II Negative Mind
by SorrowfulReincarnation
Summary: It's been twenty years since he has last set foot into Gensokyo. He has changed, but so has the land. And as he finally returns to the land of fantasy and forgotten things, he sets a chain of events into motion that threatens the peace anew. Only this time, he cannot do a thing. His homecoming draws closer, but is it really a good idea to return to the place you have abandoned?
1. Arc I - Ch I Abandoned

_Hello everyone, this is SorrowfulReincarnation, and I am happy to inform you that you have just found the first chapter of the second book in the "Negative Bullet Project"! Congratulations!_

_It's been a while since I finished I-Negative Bullet (you should read that if you haven't, otherwise you won't understand too much in this book), and even though there was 1.5 - Negative Interest (which I highly suggest you to read since it may be referred to in the future), it didn't continue the plot too much, rather than that, it was meant to be a humorous one-shot._

_Now, we have reached the second book. For those who haven't read 1.5 - Negative Interest, there is one thing you should know (Spoiler, even though Chôzen said something like this at the end of I-NB!): At the end of 1.5 - Negative Interest, Chôzen, Nanatsu and Rumia left Gensokyo, and their house was surrounded by three barriers to prevent anyone from Gensokyo to enter the house, as a gateway to the outside world was opened in their basement. The three barriers each represent one of the three lovers elements: Negativity, Hellfire and Darkness._

_I still advice you to read 1.5 - Negative Interest if you want to read this book, but it is not necessary with the information above. Now, I'll move on to "Review time" of 1.5 - Negative Interest, which I promised to do here. There are two reviews, and I'll make it real quick:_

First of: I know that the title says: "1,5 - Negative Interest", but the problem is that you cannot use a "period" in the title, so I replaced it with a comma. I tried over and over again, but it didn't work. Is it happening just for me?

Second: Mistakes pointed out are fixed. Should be by now, at least.

Third: I'm thinking about splitting 1.5 - Negative Interest into a few chapters to make it easier to read, even though I see no difference. If there are a few people who say I should, I'll do it.

Fourth: Insanity prefers free dance over ballet.

Fifth: Nicolas Crossworth pointed out that I should try to change the dialogues a bit... I'll try that next chapter (This one was almost done already when I read his review). If you guys and gals think it is easier to read my chapters then, I'll go back and edit this chapter. See it as a way to compare the styles.

Sixth: Is it just me or are some words lost when you upload a document? The hell, when I read through 1.5-NI to find some of the mistakes pointed out in Moriyaism's review, which included some of these "missing word mistakes" by the way, I found three more words completely missing! In my document, though, they were there...?

_Phew, that should be it. Alright, I know this is different from the usual "review time", and by next chapter, we'll be back to the old kind of review time, where I respond to each review as it's own. But before that, we'll start the book juuuuust below! Are you excited? I am!_

_Let's start this second book, shall we~? _

_Oh, and I'm using the old disclaimer, just for the heck of it._

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Ryoko Jigoku, Shiho Kumo, Kayako Saeki Henge, Minoue and Sly do belong to me, as for I have created them.

* * *

_**Negative Bullet Project II: Negative Mind**_

_**Prologue Arc (Arc 0): Gensokyo's Future**_

_**Chapter 1: Abandoned**_

Somewhere in this world exists a border. A border that you cannot touch. If you touch it, you walk straight through it, you will not even feel it is there. Some say that this border can be found in Japan, others say it is somewhere else.

Not many know that this border can be found in several locations at once, and not just one specific. That is because it protects a world next to ours, a world consisting of only one single land. Sometimes, in your dreams, you enter that world. It is unknown how this is possible, and many believe that this is not even true, but those who have heard of this land know better than that.

In this world next to ours, this land, that which we know as fantasy is real. Magic, for example. Creatures we have never seen, creatures from folklore, nightmares, dreams and fantasy live within it... Youkai, creatures from Japanese folklore, above all, even though western creatures like vampires had shown up in that land as well, seeking refuge from the world that no longer believed in magic and fantasy. Interestingly, they live along humans in that world. In peace.

While there are always some that do not follow the rules, Youkai that eat humans or humans that hunt Youkai, Gensokyo has managed to exist for more than 1200 years. The peace in this land has become especially stable during the last twenty four years, beginning with Reimu Hakurei creating the so called "Spellcard Rules", which ensured that conflicts could be solved in sort of a game... A game, called spellcard battle, in which it's participants throw weak, non-lethal, colorful magic at each other until they become too tired.

Especially this new rule ensured that problems were solved somewhat peacefully. This stopped many pointless killing sprees, pointless deaths in general, and ensured a harmonic coexistence of humans, demons, Youkai and Yurei, Fairies. But not only Reimu Hakurei helped with the peace that now existed within that land of fantasy by the name of Gensokyo.

Though the spellcard rules existed, peace wasn't always present. The so called 'incidents', events in which Gensokyo was thrown into chaos, destroyed peace temporarily over and over again, only for peace to return until the next incident. Also, it was not a written rule to use the spellcard rules for each fight. If not called upon, the fight would still be a real, lethal fight. Even though those became less and less as the spellcard rules gained popularity.

However, there was a time shortly after the creation of the spellcard rules when those lethal fights became more frequent. And just because of one individual, which had returned to Gensokyo after a mysterious absence of three centuries. With no memories and no place to return to, this walking enigma was unwillingly pulled into a chain of events that not only returned his memories, but also returned things he had long lost.

Fighting against everything that Mima, the evil spirit of what had once been the first Hakurei Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo and it's creator, had put in his way, he had to fight for love, friendship, his own memories and Gensokyo itself.

And until the day twenty years ago, the day the he left Gensokyo along with his wife, Nanatsu no Taizai, and the woman that had become his second wife, Rumia Shisô, those lethal fights did not stop. After he left Gensokyo, things finally calmed down, and the lethal fights became less frequent, almost completely forgotten. But his tale was not.

It`s been twenty years since he has defeated the evil spirit Mima Hakurei, then long Mima Kazami, and has last set foot into Gensokyo, and it's been twenty years since anyone in Gensokyo had seen him, Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Shisô, now long Rumia Gekidô-Shisô.

But things had changed. Gensokyo was not yet aware of it... But the changes he had gone through would eventually come down to haunt it.

Someone else was aware of it, though. Someone knew that things were about to change.

She always knew.

* * *

Gensokyo is a land of many different biomes melting into one. With green meadows, smaller deserts, giant mountains and forests, a bamboo forest, poisonous areas, valleys, and even swamps. That is one of the reasons that Gensokyo is inhabited by so many different kind of beings. Many of those beings inhabit the area that suits them the best, while others have adapted to the area they live in over time.

However, not all areas of Gensokyo are inhabitable. The so called "Nameless Hill" is the best known area to be completely uninhabitable, due to a special kind of flowers growing all over it: Suzuran, otherwise known as Lily of the Valley. These poisonous flowers make it impossible to live there, the air is full of their poison. Only one being is known to survive there over a long period, and this being is not even an organic being.

Medicine Melancholy, a Doll Youkai, is the only being living on Nameless Hill. Being born from the doll of a little girl that died on Nameless Hill and remained there for a hundred years, Medicine has become one with the very essence of that hill: Poison. With the ability to manipulate poison and a deep contempt towards humans, and somewhat towards other beings, Medicine is also known to be a very dangerous individual, making Nameless Hill even less of a friendly place, as she roams and kills there.

But Nameless Hill isn't the only place that cannot be inhabited. Especially dangerous, but less known, is a swamp far away from any life, on the very border of Gensokyo. Not much is known about it, other than it is one of Gensokyo's darkest and deadliest areas. Those who have wandered in, both on accident and foolishness, have not been seen again.

And they cannot be seen again.

What most do not know is that the swamp is filled with a deadly amount of miasma. The reason for that is that the border that separates Gensokyo and Makai is thin there. The miasma that pours through the thin border from the realm of demons turns into something dangerous and deadly as it comes into contact with the magic of Gensokyo... It mutates, so to speak. Interestingly, though, the miasma has never gone further than to the edge of that biome. It just can't.

This miasma is, different from that inside Makai, deadly once it is breathed in. Like acid, it burns through the lungs, eats you up from within. Once your lungs are damaged enough, the next breath will be your last, as you can only choke once your lungs rip apart. The air is like acid. It is acid.

Speaking of acid... The miasma has changed the area completely. The swamp has turned into something else, something neither swamp, nor realm of demons. The plants, once full of life, have become different. Nature has become different.

The colors of the water, grass, leaves and vines are much darker than in any other swamp. Earth within this area is not of a brown shade, but rather gray, pale as ash. The lily pads are a dark gray, their flowers pale white, but not a clean white, rather of a dirty shade. The trunks of the trees have become ash-gray, and touching them reveals that they are warm, like a living being. Cutting a tree reveals pulsating, red lines within the tree, almost like veins, but there is no blood flowing within them.

These red lines, pulsating and glowing, can be found if the dark grass is moved aside. They are everywhere within the swamp. They connect the trees. They move through the ground, sneak under the grass. Even at the bottom of the pits of water. At night, those lines are clearly visible. They trace the shores inside that swamp, leave it in an eerie, red light, not bright enough to illuminate the entire swamp, but not dark enough to become invisible.

Those who have entered the swamp, even though they did die later on without ever leaving it again, swore to themselves that something was not alright with it. The whole swamp does not feel natural. You feel watched all the time. Paranoia is making it's way to your head even before the first hour has passed. Something stalks you, something invisible, something not natural.

Also, once night falls, there is something else. Something horrible. The whole swamp is eerie by day, but at night, in darkness, the swamp feels... There is no word for it. Those who have entered and survived until night tried desperately to tell themselves that they were alone, that they don't have to fear anything.

But if they were alone, what about those whisper and moans one can hear as night falls? It sounds like something huge is breathing in and out. A soft, cold breeze hits your face ever so often, in perfect unison with a sound that resembles someone breathing out.

Most of those who later died within the swamp went crazy before their death. The pain of their lungs slowly dissolving, the sounds and the atmosphere drove them mad. They lost their mind before they died. And most of them had the very same thought before they died: The swamp itself is alive. Is a sentient being.

But it has never been confirmed.

Those unfortunate enough to experience thirst and drink the swamp's waters have experienced the most shocking and lethal secret of the swamp. The waters inside it, dark in color and yet clear like glass, have undergone the greatest change.

Even though they still contain what appears to be normal, dark colored water, it is not. The waters inside the swamp have become acid. Acid that burns through the stomach. Acid that burns through the gullet. Acid that eats you up from within, leaves you gasping for air and fighting on the edge of your life. You cannot escape death, though, once you drank it. If you used your hands to drink it, they`re gone within half an hour.

Aside the miasma and the water, there is another danger within this lonely swamp, this abandoned area of Gensokyo: The thick, white fog that coves the area and makes it hard to see further than fifty meters. Because of that alone, the area is quite dangerous due to several large ravines that split the swamp apart, the large pits of acid and thorny plants. But the fog is actually also a manifestation of the air full of miasma mixed with the acid waters, making it one of the most dangerous things inside the mutated, uninhabitable swamp.

But that isn't the only thing that lurks there.

No being can survive in there, aside the plants that have mutated. No insect, no animal, no human, no Yurei and no Youkai has ever set foot into the area and came out alive again. As a side note: Aside Medicine Melancholy, which can breathe in any kind of poison without hurting herself. The acid doesn't hurt her body as well, why not, even she herself has yet to figure out. It could be the poison-like aura of hers that makes her similar to the swamp, but she doesn't care.

In case that the swamp was indeed a sentient being, it could also be recognizing and accepting her as one like it's own due to her poison.

But Medicine had no interest in that corrupted area, which the humans in Gensokyo had dubbed "The godforsaken land", while it was known as "The land no god wants" by the Youkai, and just "The area" by the fairies. Because even they were smart enough to avoid it. Just not remember it's name.

And inside that godforsaken land, the place abandoned by everything alive, lurked one thing.

Because, in the end, there was such a thing that could live within it. And just this one thing.

It's natural powers negated the dangers around it. Either that, or the godforsaken land recognized him as one of it's own, recognized him to be just as dark, wicked and twisted, dangerous and abandoned as itself. Gensokyo was not aware of his arrival within it. Nobody had seen him yet. He didn't want to be seen. Not after all that had happened.

Twenty years had passed since the great battle for Gensokyo against the evil spirit Mima, but he didn't remember it. Didn't want to. He had been inside Gensokyo back then, had left, and had returned to it again. How, he did not know. How, he did not want to know. Why, he never knew, and would never know.

In the deepest darkness of Gensokyo, not too far from Nameless Hill, he lurked in the godforsaken land. Only he was able to withstand the toxic miasma, the acid and the fog. Only he would ever be able to roam within the godforsaken land without dying. Only he could negate it with his own power. He could leave whenever he wanted to. Not that he wanted to leave, though. He was fine with the darkness and the loneliness. After all that had happened to him during the last twenty years, he had all reason to.

Just when he had thought that he had found his peace, just when he had thought that he was with those that he loved and could finally live a life in happiness, it ended. The two people he loved the most were long dead. Long dead. No longer at his side to back him up. And he made himself responsible for their death. Because that was what he could do best ever since the fateful day of his downfall: Blame himself. Himself, the abandoned enigma.

Everyone else that had ever tried to enter the swamp that he hid in ever since his return to Gensokyo had become that which he had been staring at since... Hours? Days? Maybe even months? He had lost all sense of time due to the darkness in the swamp. His only clock, the time he lived by, was his hunger. But he couldn't even trust that. The craving he felt, the pain in his stomach, could never stop. Had never stopped. Would never stop.

Because that which he craved for was nothing material, and nothing that could be satisfied by food or water. Okay, so maybe it could. But only temporarily. Never completely. He craved for love, but not the love or warmth that a woman would give. No... The kind of love that only a family could give.

But he had lost that, too.

He continued to stare at the pile of bones before him, the only thing left of those who had entered the godforsaken land aside him. And it was mocking him. No, it was pitying him. Because they were alike. The pile of bones was worthless, long forgotten... And so was he. Abandoned.

So he sat there, hugging his legs with pale hands. His stomach growled, and he knew he'd soon have to find something to eat. When had the last time been that he ate something? Something normal, that filled his stomach? Those tasty berries a few days ago... Or was it weeks? He had forgotten that too. No sense of time. The berries had filled his stomach a little, and though they were poisonous and had long absorbed the water-like acid, they didn't hurt him. He had negated the power of the acid.

He leaned back a little, hid his face in the shadows of a tree. Hid in the deepest shadows that Gensokyo had to offer, silent and waiting. Waiting for the end to come. Waiting, like he had been many times over the past centuries.

He pondered a little. Maybe the idea of going to the human village on the other side of Gensokyo wouldn't be too bad. He had no money on him, but stealing wasn't too hard. It wasn't the first time, either, he had stolen many times over the centuries he had existed.

Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he let out a deep sigh and let every thought vanish. As he opened them again, the green light of his glowing eyes illuminated the dark grass before him again. He swallowed, then let his tongue trail over his teeth and rolled his shoulders.

Lowering his gaze even further, he took in the details of his black shirt with the green lines at the front, then pulled on his right shoulder to straighten the black shirt, and then dusted off his blue jeans, which he had stolen from a store in the outside world during one of the past years. Had been quite easy. Placing one hand on those gates that would raise the alarm rendered it useless, and he was past it hours before one of the security guards would see the theft on the tape that the security cameras recorded.

"Oh? Are you okay?"

The voice of female made him cringe and he let his emotionless, and yet green glowing eyes trail up two slender legs and a rather petite and slim body until they reached a beautiful face, the face of a female. She had wavy, black hair with violet highlights and silver eyes, clear as glass, a beautiful and yet shy and uncertain expression on her face.

"Leave me alone.", muttered the lonesome being with a husky voice, a voice that made even death take a run for it. He lowered his gaze and rested his chin on his knees as he hugged his legs again.

"But why? You look so alone...", she asked, worried and confused. "Because I do not deserve living, nor do I deserve being looked at... I am lonely and abandoned... It was fate that I am.", he replied, looking back to the ground. "But everybody deserves their chance! Everybody deserves to live!", countered the girl, and he snarled under his breath. "Leave me alone.", he hissed, causing the girl to frown at him.

"But...!" "You shouldn't be here. The toxic gases will kill you if you stay any longer than necessary.", he grumbled, figuring out that the girl before him was a Youkai rather than just a human. And Youkai could survive for a short time in the godforsaken land, given that they left it before the acid in the air was damaging their lungs. Miasma was not that much of a problem for a Youkai, after all, as long as it was not exposed to this miasma for several days.

"I'm fine. What you see right now is not my real body, rather something like an artificial copy of it that I can control from afar to see the world without being influenced by the terrain's dangers. Like this poison and acid you speak of. This body will dissolve soon due to those problems, but I am not affected. My real body is elsewhere.", explained the girl, and he snorted. "I don't care. Just leave me alone."

She frowned again, crossed her arms in beneath her rather ample chest, and tilted her head a little. "Are you sure? Look, if you need somebody to talk..." "Leave me the hell alone.", he hissed and leaned his head against the ash-gray trunk behind him. She watched as he moved a hand through his raven hair with the three vertical, green stripes at the front. "Leave now, and better do not return.", he repeated.

"I think I know you...", she began, but he just bared his teeth. "I TOLD YOU TO GET LOST, YOU BRAT!", he roared all of sudden, his emotionless eyes blazing with fury. At that, the girl puffed her cheeks, almost causing the lollipop to fall out of her mouth. "You're really mean. Besides, it's not brat, but Yume.", she informed him with her melodical voice, only for him to point his right hand at her.

The girl watched in shock as the waters around them reacted. Green energy shot out of them, curled into streams of what looked like green water, which gathered around his right hand, creating an orb of green energy. She gasped, sidestepped, no second too late.

The orb shot past her in what looked like a green, boiling stream. As it hit a tree and the ground, it began to sizzle and steam. And as the liquid-like energy finally faded, the tree had a large hole in it, and the ground was missing grass. But what shocked her the most was the pile of bones that had been hit as well by this green energy... It was gone completely. No trace left of iit having ever existed. Just gone.

"You were lucky. I almost erased that body of yours.", snapped the male as he reverted into his depressive state and lowered his gaze. She watched as he hugged his legs again and buried his face in them. "Alright, no need to explode like that... Geez, what did I do to you?!", grumbled the girl as she turned around and began to leave.

She took a few steps, then stopped and glanced over her right shoulder, one eye glowing silver as she watched him for a second. She saw something before her inner eye, something that wasn't too shocking to her, and yet made her feel bad. She knew his secret. And hated herself for that. She left. He was best left alone after all the pain he had been through. But she knew that it would eventually come back to haunt her.

Meanwhile, he secretly watched her leave. He didn't know her, had seen her for the first time, and yet there was something that made him feel that there was more to her. Something that he should know. But he didn't care. Not about that at least. Despite seeing her for the first time, he felt like a bond had just been awoken that had laid dormant. This bond felt similar to the bond he had with the two people he had lost just recently. But why?

He rose his gaze, rose his right hand and looked down at the pale palm and the scarred wrist. Something the girl, she had called herself Yume, had said confused him. She had said that she thought that she knew him. But why would she...?

And even if...

He closed his hand, balled it to a fist and closed his eyes as he sighed. "I am no longer... Gekido...", he whispered to himself.

* * *

_ Higan_

_Courtroom of the Shikieiki Yamaxanadu_

_One month earlier..._

"Another sinner...", murmured a teal haired woman as her eyes scanned the document before her, then placed it aside. She scanned the next, neatly sorted document as well, then shook her head, but not at the document, but something she felt. "You may enter, Yukari.", she called out into the large, empty, barely lit courtroom, but never rose her gaze once.

If she would've looked up, she would've seen how a large line appeared in midair, a red ribbon at each end of that line. Finally, the line opened up, revealing a large hole in reality, a purple mass with red-glowing eyes flying inside it. The teal haired woman shook her head in disbelief, waited a few more seconds, then rose her gaze to look at the rift. "What do you want, Yukari?", she repeated.

The hole remained where it was, flying in the middle of the room, the eyes inside it watching her intently. But nothing happened, which made Shikieiki frown. Why would Yukari Yakumo open up one of her famous gaps without coming out of it? "Yukari?", repeated Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, the Yama of Gensokyo, anew.

Suddenly, the doors to the courtroom flew open and Yukari Yakumo stepped into the room, waving enthusiastically. "Fooled you!", she exclaimed as she hastily stalked past her gap and patted it like a little puppy. "I don't think that this is funny, Yukari. You know that I do not have time for your shenanigans.", grumbled the Yama and lowered her gaze again, the document gaining importance as she returned to her work.

"Ah, don't be like that. Don't tell me you don't enjoy a joke once in a while.", smiled the Sukima no Youkai as she closed her gap with the movement of a hand, and then walked up to the Yama. Shikieiki paid her no mind as the Sukima climbed the tall judge's seat with the help of a gap and sat down on the desk, right aside the stack of documents.

"Pulling an all-nighter again, Eiki?", inquired the Sukima as she rose an eyebrow at her old friend. Even though the two of them had to act against each other ever so often due to Shikieiki being law-abiding while Yukari was doing whatever she wanted and often contravened with the laws of existence, they shared this deep friendship. And because of this, they knew that they always could rely onto each other, no matter the situation.

That aside, Yukari still was one of the higher beings and thus often interacted with the Circle of Yama, the organization of the judges of the dead of each world.

"You know that I have to.", murmured the Yama of Gensokyo and frowned as she spotted something confusing on the document before her. "Hey, Yukari... Do you see this?", asked Shikieiki as she pointed at a certain information. Yukari frowned and looked down at the document, then smiled. "No problem there. I know sounds weird, but the information is correct.", confirmed Yukari.

Shikieiki looked up. "It is? What a weird name...", she murmured and then returned to work. "That aside, do you really think it is okay that you pull an all-nighter again? Look, how many hours have passed since you last slept?", asked the Sukima, and the Yama groaned.

Yukari Yakumo watched as Shikieiki finally put the feather down aside the little ink jar and leaned back in her chair with the large backrest. The Yama closed her eyes and rose her right hand , was about to rub her eyes with the index finger and the thumb of that hand. "You should use the other hand. You've got ink on your thumb.", suggested Yukari, and as Shikieiki opened her eyes and looked down at her thumb, she found that Yukari was right.

"Ah, thanks.", she murmured, then used her other hand to rub her eyes. "No problem. Still, how long has it been?", continued Yukari, earning yet another groan from the judge. "72 hours... And I only slept three hours until then.", sighed Shikieiki, "But I am used to it already." "Ah, Eiki...", huffed Yukari and shook her head, "You know better than that."

"But I can't change it. I need to finish my work.", replied the Yama as she opened her eyes again and focused back on the document before her. "I know. But still.", commented Yukari, but then smirked, "On the other hand, your Shinigami sleeps enough for the two of you. Lazes around all day." "She's just like you, Yukari."

Yukari puffed her cheeks at the comment from the Yama, then glared over her shoulder towards the courtroom doors. She rose an eyebrow as they opened, but then smiled as she watched how a single green haired woman slipped into the room, carrying a tray with some food on it, and rose an eyebrow at her. "Ah, if that isn't Minoue.", chuckled Yukari silently, observing how Minoue bowed to her in respect and then walked along the wall of the courtroom.

"Time flies, doesn't it? Feels like yesterday when she was a little girl and was playing hide-and-seek with me. My, how she has grown!", commented the Sukima, her eyes still resting on the green haired Shinigami as she approached a heavy wooden door with a small, metal-grilled window. "Indeed it does. She's almost six centuries old now.", muttered Shikieiki as she looked up.

Minoue rose her golden scythe, turned it and placed the hilt into a small hole in a metal disc that was located in the middle of the door. Turning her scythe, it acted like a key and the heavy door swung open. "I'm here to give you your dinner, Abendsonne.", she called out into the dark, paved corridor behind the door. "He's still here, hm?", muttered Yukari and shook her head, then turned to her old friend again, "In the prison of Higan, I mean."

Shikieiki nodded slowly, confirming that the prison corridors lay indeed behind the heavy door, and confirming that the man Yukari was referring to indeed was inside that prison. "Oh, is that the lovely voice of Yukari Yakumo that I hear? Such sweetness for my tired ears.", laughed a male voice, echoing out of the dark corridor. Minoue nodded once, but then shook her head. "Don't even try it, Abendsonne."

The foreign word rolled out of her mouth anew, and Yukari just chuckled as she was reminded of the mass murderer called 'Abendsonne'. Minoue vanished inside the prison of Higan and closed the door behind her, and yet Yukari could still hear as the mass murderer known as Abendsonne began to talk with Minoue in a foreign language through the small, metal-grilled window.

Yukari turned back to Shikieiki. "Well, this actually leads me to the reason of my visit...", she smiled and watched as the Yama looked up from her document again, "I'm here to announce that Reimu and I are going to the outside world tomorrow."

She couldn't help but smile as she saw how Shikieiki's frown finally turned into a small smirk. "And what would the reason be?", asked Shikieiki as she narrowed her eyes, yet did not stop to smirk, "Perhaps a little visit to a certain someone?" "Is there anything I should tell him? Or his wives?", asked Yukari in return, and Shikieiki's smirk widened. "No. I'm content if you just tell me how they are doing once you return.", replied the Yama with a short nod.

Yukari nodded. "Right...", she smiled, then turned to look at the heavy door to the prison again as Minoue left it, "But it sure feels like eternity since we last saw them, right? Twenty years have passed... And Gensokyo has changed, has it not?"

The Yama looked up at Yukari and showed her a knowing smile. "Indeed it has. And yes, time has passed. I cannot deny that I am excited to see them again as well... I do care about them, you know? My subordinates are like my children...", replied Shikieiki, only to receive a mischievous smirk from Yukari. "All but one, huh?"

At this, the Yama blushed madly and averted her gaze "D-don't say things like that! It is your fault that the Circle of Yama found out in the first place!", stuttered the Yama, out of character for her. Yukari began to laugh, and her laughter echoed through the large courtroom, to which the Yama's blush increased.

Yukari waved this off, calmed down, and then stretched her tired limbs. "Perhaps so. Hm... Yes, I was the one who accidentally blabbed something out, and I'm sorry. Thought I share happy news, guess I was wrong.", admitted the Sukima no Youkai in a lazy tone, "Anyways, back to topic... You're not against this little visit of mine, right?" "No, go ahead. Not like I could stop you.", replied Shikieiki and returned to her work, embarrassed by her friend's words.

Yukari let out a squeal of happiness and pushed herself off the table. She landed in front of the desk, twirled on the spot, and then opened a gap. "Alright then! I'll see you tomorrow evening. Thank you very much, Eiki!", exclaimed the Sukima, and without another word, vanished inside the gap. "Say hello to Reimu and Kyôkai from me!", called Shikieiki after the Sukima, right before the gap closed.

Shikieiki let out a long sigh, shook her head in disbelief at the Sukima, and then focused on her document again. "What was the purpose of her visit again?", she muttered to herself, no one aside her in the courtroom anymore, "Not like I could stop her from visiting him. Was this a friendly visit, after all?"

Indeed, Yukari's visit had no reason at all other than trying a new shenanigan, and Shikieiki knew that somehow.

But also, little did she know that Yukari would be in for maybe not exactly a pleasant surprise...

* * *

_And so ends the first chapter of my second book in the Negative Bullet Project!_

_It's not exactly long, but much like back then at the beginning of I-Negative Bullet, it is part of the prologue and just starts the story itself. But much like back then, there is already a mystery on the way. Back then, it was Chôzen himself. This time, there are a few more mysteries. What the hell is wrong with the thing with the swamp? Who was that silver-eyed girl and what does she know? What is Yukari up to and what surprise will she get? Still, who is Minoue? And "Kyôkai"?_

_Lots of things need to be explained, but we're still at the beginning of the book, so we'll take our time. Are you sticking with me again? I hope so! _

_By now, you should've noticed why exactly "1.5 - Negative Interest" had to happen before this. It was not part of I-Negative Bullet, and yet had to happen before II-Negative Mind... Because since the events of I-NB and 1.5-NI, twenty years have passed, a fifth of a century! Lots of changes have happened, both in Gensokyo and the world outside it. And we'll begin to focus on these changes very, very soon..._

_Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the beginning of a second book... I'll enjoy writing these, I hope enjoy reading these, and I'm definitely going to continue! Things may not go as fast as before, I'll have to focus on school quite a lot now, but my free time will still be spend on this._

_That's it from me this time! Thank you very much for reading this, and I'm out!_

_So long~_


	2. Arc I - Ch II A visit from the past

_Weeeeoh, second chapter! And that in less than seven days!_

_After starting the book last time, we're moving back in time in this chapter. Why? Well, I bet you want to know how things turned out that way, don't you?_

_Well, that's where we are going to start now: The story leading up to the point that we saw last chapter._

_Soooo... First, we're moving on to review time, and then we'll go back to the story, alright?_

_First review time for this book~! *giant counter above heads turns to 1*_

**Nicolas Crossworth... ** What the hell is right! I hoped for exactly that reaction!

**Moriyaism... **Good to know that the intro is to your liking! I'll do my best to continue with this book, will update whenever I can, but I'll work on my other story "Hazard or Hatred" as well. I think I saw that kind of entrance for Yukari before as well, but like you said: It's always great to see that one happen.

**StupidityNowOffersWisdom...** I changed the dialogues this time. Hope I got them right this time.

_*confetti!*_

_And that's it for the considerably short review time for now! Ready to move on to the chapter? Behold the surprises and win your own Kogasa today...!_

_...What I am saying makes no sense at all, right? *sweatdrop*_

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Ryoko Jigoku, Shiho Kumo, Kayako Saeki Henge, Minoue and Sly do belong to me, as for I have created them.

* * *

_**Chapter 2: A visit from the past**_

_4 weeks until the event in the godforsaken land..._

When I woke from a rather deep and satisfying, peaceful slumber that morning, I felt no different than usual. The warmth of two bodies clinging onto me made me smile softly, and if it hadn't been for my need to use the bathroom, I would've stayed in bed then.

Once the need became almost unbearable, I untangled myself from the limbs holding me down, slipped out from under the dark khaki blanket and climbed over the body of a sleeping, dark-haired woman. Her soft breathing kept me calm, even as I stood aside the bed and smiled down at her.

For just a second, my gaze stopped on the nightstand aside the large full-size bed. Resting on it aside the old lamp was a pair of slim, black, rectangular glasses and two silver earrings that looked like little scythes. I smiled at those items, then shook my head and turned to leave the still only dimly-lit room. I brushed my fingers along the azure curtains that prevented any sunlight of the early morning to come in.

It was Saturday, so there was no need for me to worry about being late for work. Sure, being the CEO of a leading company, a position I had worked hard for over the years, wasn't always easy and it wouldn't be the first Saturday on which I would've to work at home, but it was fine. Compared to fighting an evil spirit for the sake of existence, doing a stack of paper work at home was quite easy. Not as exciting, but still.

Once I was done in the bathroom, had washed my hands, the right one in a black leather glove all along, and had splashed water into my face, I rolled my shoulders and closed the door to the bathroom behind me. My gaze wandered down the corridor, and I glanced through the slightly ajar door back into the bedroom once more. Both women were still fast asleep on the bed, and I knew that neither of them would wake up too soon. A short peek down at my wrist, where I had my watch, revealed that it was 6 AM... On a Saturday.

_"Meh... I'm awake already, so I might as well get some work done."_ I thought as I closed my eyes and rested them for a few seconds, _"Still... I need some coffee first. And some music. And I better don't get disturbed __again. Disturb me before I got my coffee and my music in the morning and you're sure to experience my wrath."_

I opened my eyes again and turned towards the stairs, let my thoughts trail off to the stacks of paper work that would await me in my study. Juggling with some figures in my head, I made my way down the stairs into the corridor. Tiredness got the better of me again and I almost dozed off right there, awoke again when my balance was gone for a second. I quickly shook my head, blinked, then yawned.

_"Damn... I'm tired."_ shot through my head as I continued my way again.

Reaching the lower end of the stairs, I cringed and shuddered as my bare feet came in contact with the cold, ice-blue tiles, and I hissed. I laid my own arms around my bare chest, shuddered as the cold spread through my entire body. I traced some of the scars on my arms unknowingly, scars that left small areas all over my body unable to feel a touch anymore.

_"Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best idea to come down here in just my boxers..."_ I thought while I played with the silver necklace from Makai that rested against my sternum, yet felt too lazy to go back to the bedroom to dress properly. I was at home, and with the little human friends I had, most of them just colleagues that didn't even know where I resided, there weren't going to be any visitors.

Instead, I plodded down the corridor, past the large mirror and the cupboards, stopped aside the large plant and reached for the shiny door handle. Pushing the door to the kitchen open, my eyes almost shut again due to the tiredness coming through yet another time, and so I didn't notice the change to the kitchen immediately.

My steps carried me through the room, past the, which I had yet to notice, occupied chairs at the table, and opened one of the cupboards to reach for my favorite mug.

"Morning Yukari." I greeted with a yawn, still too tired to process anything around me. Annoyance got the better of me as I failed to reach my favorite mug, which stood in the very back of the lower compartment of the cupboard. I had to raise myself on tiptoes to spot it, and my head went into the cupboard as I tried to reach my favorite, white mug.

"You want some coffee as well?" I asked. A feeling of triumph spread through me as my right hand finally got a hold on the mug.

"No, thanks, a hot tea would be enough."

The female voice snapped me out of my tired stupor and I cringed madly, mad enough to hit my head on the cupboards upper compartment. I hissed, took a step back and pulled my head out of the cupboard, no longer interested in the mug and the coffee.

"YUKARI?!" I gasped as I twirled around and frowned at the Sukima no Youkai I hadn't seen in twenty years that sat at the table and smiled mischievously at me. I blinked several times, rubbed my eyes, not quite believing what I saw. But there she was, Yukari Yakumo, her legs crossed and her head resting on a pale, beautiful hand with manicured, purple-colored nails.

Unlike her usual attire, she was wearing, and I admit that I enjoyed the sight despite being married twice, a white tank top and a pair of light blue, tight fitting jeans. She wasn't wearing her hat either, her long and golden-blonde hair flowing freely down her back like a golden stream. To be honest, if it weren't for the power she emitted, I would've barely recognized her. She looked way younger than usual.

Ran Yakumo, her Shikigami, sat on the bench along with her own Shikigami Chen, both smiling widely at me and my stupor. Ran wasn't wearing her usual clothes either, had exchanged her Chinese dress with a worn-out, single-leg jeans and a skimpy black tank top that left her well-toned stomach exposed. A red choker, even though it actually looked a lot like a dog collar, was around her neck. No sign of her fox tails or ears, though. She was hard to recognize her as well.

Chen wasn't that difficult. She wore the same clothes as usual, only with the lack of the green hat, as well as her tails and her ears. Probably Yukari's doing.

But they weren't alone. A woman was with them that I had yet to recognize. She was almost as tall as Yukari, probably in her early thirties with a body to die for. She was wearing tight, black jeans along with a long, white blouse. She had colorful bangles around her wrists, a simple necklace with a purple stone dangling on it, and was wearing a silver ring around her right hands ring finger. Obviously married.

She had a soft smile on her lips as she allowed me to examine her, twirled a brunette flick of hair with her left, free hand. She bore a little resemblance to Yukari, I mean, both had bodies other women would murder for, both had hair that reached down to their waist, even though of different color, and both had pale skin as soft as silk and without as much as a single flaw.

_"Well, if I wouldn't know better, I'd say that this woman here is... Well, she sure bears a resemblance to..."_

"R-reimu?!" I gasped and felt how my jaw dislocated itself and hit the ground.

"Indeed." greeted the miko that, well, wasn't exactly wearing her miko outfit, "I believe you're gawping at me for my beauty, right? Well, it should be alright as well if it is because of me wearing the clothes that outsiders would wear. Yukari said it would look a little strange if we walked around in our usual outfits."

_"Holy Hakurei! That is... Reimu?! Just look at her figure! Now THAT is beauty! What happened to the young, grumpy girl she was when I left?!"_

"We went shopping before we came here, and would've attracted unnecessary attention, so that's the reason for these clothes. That aside, it is quite amazing that shops are already open at this hour, hm?" giggled the Sukima, but I was still trying to get over the sight of the four females.

Everyone but Reimu didn't seem to have aged a day (Yukari and Ran did look a lot younger in those outfits, though!), but the human girl had become, and dare I say, a quite stunning woman. Hitting adulthood had done her good.

"Reimu...?" I repeated, "Just how long has it been? How old are you? You look like you're... Thirty-two?"

The Miko winked at me. "Forty-two, you Casanova. I was eighteen when you appeared in Gensokyo, twenty-two when you left. And it's been twenty years since then."

_"No way! Forty-two?!" _Feeling my left eyelid twitch in disbelief, I turned away from the four females and hit the button on the coffee machine, and the button began to glow red as the machine started to hum to itself.

"I need a coffee before I can handle all of this..." I muttered to myself. As the machine began to do it's magic, I reached into the cupboard and grabbed hold of my favorite mug anew.

"Anyone else?" I asked over my shoulder.

"A tea is fine, thank you. One for me, and one for Reimu, please. Ran?" retorted the Sukima no Youkai, but her Shikigami shook her head.

"Some milk for Chen, if you have, though." she commented, and I nodded. As I turned my back to them again and extended one hand to get four cups for the girls, Reimu suddenly whistled and drew my attention to her. I walked over to the table and placed the cups in front of the girls, but I didn't miss how Reimu examined me.

"I remember you to be a wimp, but I must say... I guess I've been wrong. Quite some muscles you got there, never thought you were that muscular. And the scars are sexy, too." snickered the miko, and I felt how all blood rushed to my face as soon as I realized that I was still only wearing a pair of boxers. My gaze turned away as I blushed, not used to compliments from anyone else but my wives.

"R-reimu...!" I winced and shuddered and quickly turned to the fridge to look for the milk for Chen. I quickly found it, the milk bottle stood in the door as usual, and handed the bottle to Ran.

"Ha, still not used to compliments, eh?" laughed the miko, but continued to ogle.

"Y-Yukari! Do something! Your girlfriend is ogling me!" I gasped, even though I was unsure if the two of them were still together, especially after Reimu's advances towards me just a few moments earlier. But the Sukima just began to chuckle madly, something that creeped me out even more.

"Girlfriend? Wrong definition there, my dear. Reimu is my wife." laughed Yukari, and I found myself frowning at the Sukima and her girlfriend-turned-wife, "Besides... Ogling allowed, just no touching or anything further."

"If I recall right, Yukari, you ogled the most." came the snarky comment from Reimu, yet I saw that she loved the Sukima quite a lot, and vice versa. And true to Reimu's word, it had been Yukari that had always ogled others, even males. Me, for example. And yet, despite that, I knew that Yukari was not the type to cheat on her partner. Not that Reimu was. So, I guess it was fine if they allowed each other to look at people that struck their eyes.

"Congratulations then. I believe my invitation to the wedding got lost on the way here?" I allowed myself to utter in sarcasm, only distracted by the familiar beeping of the coffee machine having finished it's process.

"Oh no, actually, I went past the barriers to deliver the invitation to you, but when I entered your house, nobody was there." explained the Sukima, and I nodded to myself. Of course she hadn't found us there. The old house still existed in the part of Gensokyo that was separated from the rest by the three barriers, and we went there once in a while to just relax in complete peace and silence, but we actually lived in the outside world.

"Course not." I commented as I watched how the brew of life poured into my favorite mug, "We live here, in the outside world. The gateway is connected to the attic of this house, and we can open the gateway back to Gensokyo from there."

"Do you always run around in your house in nothing more than underwear? The thought is hot. And let me tell you, it turns me on even though I am into women more than men." commented a certain, now adult miko, and I winced again.

"Yukari, stop your girlfriend!" I squealed, but the Sukima shook her head.

"Nah, I actually have to agree with her. I'm more into women than men as well, but you certainly push my buttons." giggled Yukari Yakumo and twirled a finger in midair. Hearing those words, my blush increased to the point where I thought that my head would melt any second.

"You two...!" I growled and grabbed my mug, quickly downed half of it's contents. The coffee, the so called brew of life, did it's work and I felt how the last bit of tiredness that had remained vanished.

"Yukari-sama, Reimu-sama, please stop embarrassing Chôzen. It is the first time we see him in twenty years, so please behave, alright?" asked Ran, causing both women to pout.

"But it's fun!" insisted the miko.

"He's married, twice, and still reacts like this!" pouted Yukari.

I rolled my eyes at their childish behavior, placed the mug back on the counter behind me and began to prepare the tea for my friends from Gensokyo.

"How about you finally move on to tell me the reason for this visit?" I muttered as I looked through one of the cupboards for the tea leaves.

"Who said that we had a reason?" giggled Yukari in return. But shut up when I sent a frown over my shoulder at her, then resumed to search for the tea leaves.

"It's been twenty years since we've last seen each other, Yukari. I left Gensokyo twenty years ago, and you never came to visit, despite being the only one able to do so. And now you're telling me that this is the first friendly visit you thought of? Shame on you if you really forgot me!" I huffed.

"You got me there... This visit has a reason. But let's wait until both of your wives are here, hm? It should interest them as well." laughed the one and only Sukima no Youkai.

I was just about to throw a snarky comment back at her, but a bundle of clothes hit me in the face that moment, surprising me and effectively stopping the comment I had been about to make.

"Geez, you people really need to learn how to keep quiet! I could hear you all the way up in the bedroom." yawned a woman with wavy, black hair as she entered the room along with a blonde woman, but then glared at me, "And you! You have no decency at all, do you? Put some clothes on!"

I pulled the black shirt out of my face and snorted, rolled my eyes. The black shirt in my hands reminded me of the old times, but it was not the same as the one back then. Gone was the green flame on the back of the shirt, replaced by a green sun. The lines on the front of the shirt had been replaced by a small, green circle surrounded by another circle, and the sleeves had a green flame pattern on them from the wrist up to the elbow.

As I put the shirt on, the green fabric began to glow brightly, but unlike back then, there was a darker shade of green mixed with the usual bilious green, which gave the whole thing a more "techno"-like appearance.

"Geez, Nana... I haven't been wearing green in twenty years!" I told the black-haired woman as she slipped past me and emptied the remains of my coffee with one swift movement. The blonde woman hadn't said a thing yet, merely shook her head and opened the fridge, pulled out a can of coke and opened it with a loud noise.

"For a good reason. Remember, hot stuff, green begins to glow as it comes in touch with your body." snickered the blonde before she turned to the four visitors, "Good morning to you four. But may I ask what my dear half-sister, her wife and her Shikigami are doing in our kitchen?"

"You knew that Yukari and Reimu married?" I inquired as I slipped into my jeans.

"Yeah. Yukari told me. She came to visit once... I don't remember when. Could be a year ago or so, maybe more. I was alone at home then." replied the blonde before she took another sip from her coke.

"Green fabric begins to glow when he wears it? The hell, even underwear? And socks?" mused Reimu aloud, and only shut up when I sent a glare her way for a moment, but then turned to look at my wives.

They both had changed with the years, their appearance from our adventures and time in Gensokyo only a fleeting memory.

It all started with something that, considering the situation, had been quite funny. When we had left Gensokyo, we of course had to create aliases for us... Nanatsu no Taizai, Rumia Gekido-Shisô and Chôzen Gekido weren't names you could use like that.

That was when someone appeared at our door, stating that he was from the "International Demon and Youkai Observance Squad", a secret global organization that ensured the peace between human and supernatural creatures.

The name of the organization awoke bad memories within me, but the man knew about my bad history with the organization's troupe YY, which I had obliterated along with the inhabitants of the Scarlet Devil Mansion from back then after they had dared to attack us.

He assured me that troupe YY had been a rogue troupe which had been about to be disbanded back then, but they never got the chance... When troupe YY had decided to get rid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's inhabitants from back then against orders, we had killed them all. I had killed them all after they had hurt Flandre. (1)

Despite my bad history with them, I trusted the International Demon and Youkai Observance Squad... Not like we had a chance. We needed powerful allies to create aliases for us, and that was exactly what the organization did: Integrating peaceful supernatural creatures into society, and getting rid of dangerous ones.

With new aliases and background stories, it was no problem for us to pretend to be human.

But, considering that those aliases were nothing more than that: Fake names with fake backgrounds and everything included to that; we had to keep up the act and pretend to be human. Going to a doctor wouldn't be easy, and we knew it. Being Youkai, our physical condition was much better than those of human, and every doctor would notice the difference to a human.

But, luckily, the International Demon and Youkai Observance Squad also took care of that. They had their own hospitals, their own doctors and everything... Just hidden from the world, so to say.

And that's where the funny thing comes in.

Because we were from Gensokyo, another land separate from the human world, we had to go through a series of tests. Just the usual tests on physical condition, as well as several blood tests to ensure that we were not carriers of an unknown kind of pathogen that could have had developed in Gensokyo. That was not the case, we were perfectly fine.

In fact, I was perfectly fine... The doctors said that this was because of my natural ability to negate most things. They told me, though, that I should be careful: My body could negate diseases like a cold or something, but I was not invincible to it. A cold would slow down my ability to negate, and it would take my body some time to get rid of the disease. In other words: I merely recovered faster from a disease than the average Youkai.

Still, the tests took some time, and by the time they were done, Rumia was already awaiting me. It took some time before Nanatsu appeared as well, blushing madly. Apparently, she was fine as well... The only problem, and that is the funny part: The doctors had found out that Nanatsu was pretty shortsighted and had been unable to complete the tests correctly... She was shortsighted, and that not just since the day before.

Over all the centuries in Gensokyo, Nanatsu had never dared to admit to herself that she was shortsighted!

Well, and that lead to the first change since Gensokyo: Nanatsu started to wear glasses. And the sight was... marvelous. Sounds like a pun, I know, but I'm serious. The slim, black, rectangular glasses looked good on her.

And once she had begun to wear glasses, the other changes kicked in.

Rumia, amazed by the new look that such a simple thing as glasses had done to Nanatsu, wanted to try something for herself. One day, she left to go into the city, and when she came back, she had a silver spiral-like piercing in her right ear.

But it didn't stop there.

Nanatsu dared to lay off her kimono, replaced it with a pair of jeans, a pink belly top and a black tight denim jacket. This tight jacket prevented the embodiment of seven deadly sins, a creature that appeared as a dead woman with blue, shriveled skin, to leave Nanatsu's back. She said that it wasn't too pleased with that, and that it hurt sometimes when someone who gave into the sins especially much was near her, but it was bearable.

This scary creature was the manifestation of the deadly sins. Usually, it rested within a magic seal located on Nanatsu's back, but once someone that gave into a deadly sin came within reach of seven steps to Nanatsu, the embodiment of seven deadly sins left the seal and hung from her back.

Rumia had changed her outfit as well, even though she never stayed with one long. That morning, she wore long, baggy, off-white colored trousers, had yet to put on socks, and had thrown on a loose, purple tank top that really showed her muscular stomach.

The two earrings that I had seen earlier on the nightstand now dangled on Nanatsu's earlobes, reflecting the light falling in from the window on the silver surface of the scythes.

To summarize things: Both of my wives had changed their appearance over the twenty years, and I had remained pretty much the same.

And while our personalities hadn't changed much as well, Rumia had picked up one habit. One habit that included me, one habit that I hated because it drove me mad.

And that morning, like every other morning or whenever she got the chance, she just loved to tease me with it.

Being lost in my thoughts of long forgotten times, dwelling within memories of over twenty years, I had failed to notice that Rumia had put her can of coke aside and had moved. I only noticed when it was already too late.

I cringed madly as the collar of my shirt was pulled down at my back and something cold, round and hard sled against my skin, surrounded by the wet sensation that only a tongue could give. Goosebumps appeared all over my body as I hissed and shuddered, growling to myself that I had let my guard down.

"Rumia!" I snarled as I glared over my shoulder at my second wife. She was grinning madly, her tongue still hanging out of her mouth, revealing the silver piercing in the middle of it. Yeah, she actually decided to get a piercing since it didn't only fit her 'wild personality', but also closed the hole that Mima had created twenty years earlier when she had slammed her staff through Rumia's tongue to torture her.

"One day, you're going to admit that you like it." snickered the Angel of Death as she pulled her tongue in and winked at me, before she moved to her half-sister Yukari and pulled up a chair from a small table by the window.

I watched this in silence, rolled my eyes at Rumia, but then moved to our guests as well, pulled up two chairs, one for me and one for Nanatsu, and then sat down in between Nanatsu and Rumia, my eyes glued to Yukari's lips, which were curled up in a playful smirk.

"Now, Chôzen..." began the Sukima no Youkai and let her gaze trail around, "I think it is time to finally tell you the reason for our visit."

**"About damn time, Yakumo."** I called out, but it wasn't really me. I found myself a bit surprised as I heard the distorted version of my own voice, as Insanity, another personality that used my body as it's host due to being born from me, had been pretty quiet over the last twenty years.

"Ah, so you're here as well, insane one. Then I really can start now." laughed Yukari and waved it off. I felt how Insanity slowly vanished into the back of my mind, but I felt that he was waiting, listening in on our conversations.

* * *

_~ Music cue: Detective Conan / Case Closed - Movie theme ~_

_I guess this is the moment where I should start explaining._

_My name is Chôzen Gekido and I am the so called "Insei no Youkai", a Youkai born from the emotions of indifference and wrath well over 70 000 years ago. Born with the ability to manipulate the emotions within a being to a negative aspect, like anger, sadness or similar, I fed on these negative emotions. However, I was always acting subconsciously, never thought about anything as I roamed the world back then._

_Some time during my existence, consciousness finally kicked in and I became aware of the horrible things I had done to beings with this ability. I began to hate myself and stopped, even if it meant to starve. I did not starve to death, as I unknowingly began to be attracted to places with a dark history, where I fed on the remains of these emotions that still lingered in the air._

_However, my hunger drove me insane._

_With a broken psyche, I continued to roam the world, still not really aware of what I was doing, always searching for a purpose. I began to view the world emotionless, not amazed by anything and yet not disgusted. I began to become indifferent._

_On one of my journeys, I became aware to the thing called "nihilism", a way of life which I had unknowingly been practicing: I watched everything with perfect indifference. That was also around the time that I heard of the so called "Path of Nihilism", a long forgotten and abandoned path on which your goal was to find the perfect indifference by abandoning all emotions. _

_I began to chase after this, my goal now to be the first one to finish this long forgotten, and most of all forbidden, path. For the following thousands of years to come, I did my best to fulfill the requirements to finish the path. On this long and exhausting path, I met Fujiwara no Mokou, a girl that wanted to be immortal to have revenge on another immortal; another man that followed the path of nihilism; and also came in touch with another path, the path of hatred._

_And eventually, the day came that I finished the path of nihilism, the path of the perfect balance. Putting the mask of no more future onto my face, I was granted the power of the nihilism. I became perfectly indifferent, lost my power to manipulate negative emotions and instead gained the power to manipulate negative energy, a powerful kind of energy present everywhere._

_I still yearned to get these powers fully under my control, and began to train under Suwako Moriya, one of the higher goddesses, along with Kanako Yasaka, a younger goddess, before I became perfectly indifferent. During this training, I began my first rivalry ever with the other goddess, and learned to despise her, despite my attraction towards her._

_After I left the two goddesses, I continued my path to nowhere at all._

_It wasn't until the day that I met Yukari Yakumo for the first time that my life made sense again. She managed to somehow get beyond this mask of mine, reached the person behind it and actually managed to get emotions from me. Mostly annoyance, but still._

_She told me of a dream she had. She wanted to create a land where supernatural beings and human could live in peace. Needless to say that I turned my back on her the first time, believing it to be a stupid, childish dream of hers, right?_

_I did not believe anything she said, even though we met several times over the centuries, until the day that I got an invitation from her. Back then, Yukari Yakumo was quite interested in me. I was and still am her opposite, both regarding personality and ability. She could create, I could end._

_For some reason, I followed the invitation... Perhaps out of curiosity hidden behind the mask, maybe just on a whim. It was the best thing I could ever do._

_Upon arrival in Gensokyo, back then just seven days old, I met those who would later become the most important people of Gensokyo; among them Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, Shinki, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Lord Tenma and the four seasons of Gensokyo; Lily White, Yuuka Kazami, Shizuha and Minoriko Aki, and finally Letty Whiterock._

_But also, the woman that would later become the most important thing in my life, later sharing that position with another woman, was there. It was the first time that I met her, and the very first time that I felt how the mask of no more future failed me noticeably._

_The woman I saw that day was Nanatsu no Taizai, a Reaper-type Shinigami working for Shikieiki Yamaxanadu._

_I don't remember how things went from then, but somehow, I continued to meet Nanatsu, fell in love with her despite the nihilism, and eventually married her. _

_When Nanatsu no Taizai was sent to the outside world by Shikieiki, I went along with her. Things went peaceful and we lived a happy life, my mask slowly but surely fading away and my emotions coming through again. Everything seemed perfect, we never had to worry about anything, Nanatsu got pregnant and carried our child... Everything was just perfect._

_Until the day that I came home and found Nanatsu crying. Our child had been a stillbirth._

_This event drove us apart. I returned to Gensokyo, Nanatsu stayed in the world outside Gensokyo. But we both had scars from that event. Mental scars. Nanatsu managed, somehow... But after separating from her, my already broken mind finally gave in. _

_It was the birth of Insanity, the second personality of mine. He had shown signs of being there before, but he only gained a real personality then. At first, he was against me. We fought for control, fought for dominance. Over the time, we had worked together, though, as we didn't always have different goals. We ultimately stopped fighting against each other just about twenty years ago, though._

_Several things happened after my return to Gensokyo: I met Yuyuko Saigyouji and experienced her suicide and return as ghost, and I met Mima Hakurei, who had become an evil spirit. I stayed with Byakuren Hijiri for a while and build a strong bond with her and her disciples, but the later ones turned against me after Byakuren sealed herself._

_One day, a few years before I should first meet Byakuren, Yukari Yakumo came to me and asked me to help her sealing a dangerous individual. This individual turned out to be her half-sister, Rumia Shisô, an Angel of Death that had lost control and had become a bloodlusty killer, known as Gensokyo's greatest fear._

_During the fight with the wild, untamed beast that Rumia was, Insanity took full control for the first time. He and Rumia fell in love with one another, attracted by each others madness and violence. The outcome of the fight was horrible, though. Rumia was dying away after their ferocious battle, and Yukari was forced to seal her into a childish body._

_My steps carried me into the Underground of Gensokyo one day, where I met Satori and Koishi Komeiji and became their 'brother', even though I was actually more or less their playmate. I began to befriend Utsuho Reiuji, a hell raven that had eaten the corpse of the god Yatagarasu, not knowing that this would lead to one of my greatest problems ever decades later._

_Eventually, though, I couldn't stand being separated from Nanatsu anymore, even though I tried to deny it out of fear that she would ultimately reject me. Insanity took control, though, and forced me to find her. Before I could regain control, he brought me to the outside world and told me to find her._

_Before that happened, though, I met the Scarlet Devil Mansion's inhabitants, and was accepted by the Scarlet Sisters pretty much like I had been accepted by the Komeiji Sisters, calling me their 'brother'. But after a tragedy, the whole thing with Troupe YY and them hurting Flandre, things became awkward and I left them._

_I finally met Nanatsu again. I finally reunited with her and we apologized, promised each other anew to be always there. I ripped off the mask of no more future before her to show our bond._

_And then, things went down the drain._

_Utsuho Reiuji, thinking that I was responsible for Satori's depressions, followed me into the outside world, and just when I was about to return to Gensokyo through one of Yukari's gaps, she shot me with nuclear energy. I negated it, absorbed the energy, but also the gap by accident. The overcharged gap exploded and created a space in which time was disrupted..._

_The single movement of turning around and releasing the gap to leave Yukari's world again took me a whole 300 years._

_And as I was catapulted back into Gensokyo after three entire centuries, my mind couldn't take all the pressure put onto it. After being broken, having Insanity up there, losing the mask of no more future and then the three hundred centuries of slow motion until that moment forced it to use a sort of defense mechanism: It locked my memories away to save them._

_So I awoke to find myself in Gensokyo, in front of the Hakurei Shrine, no memories of who I was or what I was. Reimu was so kind to take me in, a complete stranger, and it didn't take me long to accidentally unleash Mima, who had been sealed in a silver chest hidden within a secret room. _

_The evil spirit could finally tell me who I was and what I was, but kept her real motives, the destruction of the Gensokyo that had forgotten her and the death of me, hidden. _

_I was unwillingly pulled into one of Gensokyo's incidents only a week later, in which Mima unleashed Rumia again, and I later met the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion for the second time in my life. The old feelings to Rumia returned, and even though they actually were Insanity's, I began to fall for Rumia as well._

_It was the following spring that my entire life got turned upside-down. It was the incident of Gensokyo's late spring in which I found out anew that I was immortal, met the ex-queen of nocturnal Youkai Ryoko Jigoku, ran into Yuyuko Saigyouji and Youmu Konpaku again and finally met Yukari Yakumo, who had secretly watched me since my return to Gensokyo after the long absence of three hundred years._

_It turned out that Nanatsu had lived with her since the return from the real world, and so, I also met my wife again. After building a house in the Forest of Magic, Nanatsu and I moved in together in hope to restore our love and our life before the whole chaos. However, Rumia came into the mix and everything became complicated with my attraction towards her._

_When the moon was replaced by a fake one, I teamed up with the Angel of Death and went out with four other teams to get the real moon back. It wasn't too hard, Rumia and I turned out to be a good team, and with the help of the other teams, we defeated Kaguya Houraisan and got the moon back. In the morning, I had a small battle with Fujiwara no Mokou, but things turned out alright as well._

_Only a short while later, I met Sakuya Izayoi's father, avoided the two bickering women of my heart, and actually ended up at Higan, the court of the dead, where Shikieiki and Yukari finally revealed the entire truth to me, who I was, where I came from, and my purpose to end the existence once time had come._

_It was around that time that Mima teamed up with Yuuka and the two of them began to set their plans into motion that should destroy Gensokyo and kill me._

_Rumia and I got in a fight, or rather, Rumia gave up on me, and left Gensokyo, taking half of my heart with her. I fell into depressions, which didn't even stop when Suwako Moriya and Kanako Yasaka showed up in Gensokyo. I fought Kanako, became the wielder of the legendary sword Alastor, defeated her with Nanatsu's help, and solved an incident that way._

_And then, Rumia returned._

_Just one season after her leave, she showed up again. But not to fight for me... But to fight me. To death. It was the most horrible night of my life, a night I would later call the 'apocalyptic night'. Rumia fought Insanity and me, and we destroyed an entire landscape in our emotions. Our pent up hatred and desires unleashed itself through the twin swords Alastor and Tyrfing and destroyed everything around them. The night ended with me stabbing Rumia._

_I almost thought I lost her, ended up at Eirin's clinic with a dying Rumia in my arms, and Eirin somehow saved her life... I never really thanked her for that. Not enough._

_It took Rumia weeks to regain consciousness. And as she did, she announced that she would once more fight for my love. Later, I found out that Mima had set this fight up._

_By some twisted sense of fate, I went down into the underground with Nanatsu and Rumia. My memories returned as I fought Utsuho Reiuji, and I defeated her in a long and exhausting battle that forced me to go all out on her. I almost died then for a hundred years; I can't die completely, after all, due to my immortality. That fight, too, had been set up by Mima in an attempt to get rid of me._

_Upon returning home, I found Nanatsu and Rumia giving into their pent up desires for one another, felt betrayed as I saw them kissing and cuddling. I ran into the night, ended up at the pub of the human barkeeper Sly, where I stayed for the time being._

_Getting rid of one of the more powerful but yet most dangerous parts of me, the Negative Soul, I also got on terms with Insanity and teamed up with him finally. Mima and Yuuka married another during this time, performed the ritual of bonded hearts, a ritual that allowed them to share their power, and tricked all of us that way. After two days of separation from Nanatsu and Rumia, I also returned to the side of the two women of my heart, even though it remained awkward._

_My past decided that it was time to become my present in shape of Byakuren's followers seeking to revive her. I wanted to keep my promise to the monk and tried to stop them, but failed. Byakuren's return finally opened my eyes to the danger that Mima was, but it was already too late. _

_Deciding that I needed some time for me again, I left Gensokyo to live in Makai, the world of demons. There is one thing that I have not mentioned yet, and I'd rather not talk about it... About her, Alice Margatroid. She became important in my quest to fully regain my powers, but I'd rather not remember it. She was the main reason that I moved into Makai, though._

_My isolation in Makai ended when another incident hit Gensokyo full force, an incident which we, the group that had formed to fight Mima, believed to be the evil spirits doing. It turned out that Mima tried to make use of the incident, but was not the one who caused it. She escaped us, showing off a new kind of power that defeated most of us without even doing anything._

_The group against Mima grew. I was sent out on a last mission after they found out that Mima had been able to manipulate me through the so called "Unfocused World", a world that was actually a living being, allowing entrance to those who searched for it._

_I found out about Mima's true intentions, fought against the personification of the Unfocused World with the help of Alice, and as soon as the link between me and the Unfocused World was broken, went out to challenge Mima, the four religions of Gensokyo; Shintoism, Taoism, Buddhism and Makai, each giving me an item to help._

_I searched out Mima, battled her to the very end. She mentioned that some kind of serial killer known as "Abendsonne", some kind of mysterious guy that had once been one of Gensokyo`s biggest fears, had been helping her... I never got to see him, so either he had been acting in the background, or Mima lied._

_I eventually regained my full strength, and defeated her... Or so I had thought. When everything seemed like Rumia had just accidentally killed Yuuka, Mima lost control of herself and became that which she had never been meant to be; a full Onryô. _

_I nearly died in the final battle against Mima, but after defeating her several times in that form, she eventually succumbed to exhaustion. It took me one final blow then; one last attack in which I gathered every negative emotion within Gensokyo and channeled them into her by linking our souls for a very few seconds. Mima lost, but won back her control and her reason to exist. _

_Yuuka had survived. Mima had been defeated and had realized her faults. Everything seemed to be perfect._

_It wasn't. _

_I had gotten tired of Gensokyo. The four years that Mima had put me through left me exhausted. I needed time away from Gensokyo. Four weeks after defeating Mima, one final incident took place for the three of us. A Doll Youkai had been going around and had manipulated people to be interested in the weirdest things. We found her, but during the fight, she fell over a cliff and died. And I blamed myself because I was at fault._

_After this incident, we left Gensokyo._

_And that was how we ended up here, in the outside world._

_This was how everything came to be._

_~ music fades out ~_

* * *

"So... Now for the reason we came here." began Yukari and leaned back in her chair, "It's about a matter I thought that would interest you three greatly. Especially after all those years."

I watched as Nanatsu, who had prepared two more cups of tea, walked over to us and passed one of them to Rumia, but the Angel of Death shook her head and gestured to the can of coke she was holding. The Shinigami nodded, then pulled up a chair as well and sat down on it.

"Spill it, sis." sniggered Rumia and mockingly swayed her can of coke into Yukari's direction.

"Better watch that you don't spill that coke, Rumia." was the snarky reply from the Sukima, but Rumia ignored it, even though she stopped swaying the can that she had picked up again as she sat down. I watched this exchange with a frown and a shake of my head.

"Yukari..." I groaned, the Sukima already irritating me after being present for just a few minutes, "Could you just get to the point? What is the real reason that you came here with Ran and Chen? Has to be pretty important if you brought Reimu al..."

"I want to re-socialize you three with Gensokyo if you need to know so badly. It's been twenty years, you lived your lives, we lived our lives, but we all know that you can't just stay away from Gensokyo forever." replied Sukima and crossed her legs.

I frowned at her.

"Why now?" I huffed, then glanced at Reimu, "Of course, that explains why you are present. Being Gensokyo's Hakurei Maiden, you have to agree with this...!"

Reimu lowered her head a bit and smiled, then shook her head.

"I'm forty-two already, Chôzen. I may still be the Hakurei Maiden, but the next Hakurei Maiden is already in training." she explained and waved her hand a bit, causing my frown to increase.

"It really has been that long, hm? I'm sorry, Reimu, but I don't see twenty years as a long time... Twenty years is nothing to me." I mused, and Reimu nodded in agreement.

"Understandable. After all, you're not only going to remain longer than I am, but the longest of them all." I nodded at her words, knew she was referring to me being the so called 'destroyer', the one destined to destroy the existence, and thus the one that remained the longest. Until the very end.

"Back to topic!" exclaimed Yukari and slammed her hands down on the table, "As I was going to explain... The reason why I came here now is the annual Gensokyo team tournament, the perfect chance to surprise everyone and re-socialize you three!."

"...say what?" I muttered, surprised. A tournament? Now that was something new!

"What." chuckled Yukari, causing me to facepalm (2).

"You annoy him, Yukari-sama..." whispered Ran into the Sukima's ear, but Yukari's grin just increased, became more mischievous.

"I know, Ran." she chuckled, but then leaned forwards, "But you heard right, it's my turn to prepare the annual competition, a team tournament, 3 vs 3. And that just fits you three so well that I thought: Hey, why not stop at their place after twenty years and ask them if they'd like to return to Gensokyo?"

"A fighting team tournament?" asked Nanatsu, to which the sukima nodded.

"Yep. Of course, only for the strongest." laughed the one and only Sukima as she threw her head back. Hearing this coming from Yukari, I facedesked.

"Let me guess, this tournament was Cirno's idea in the first place, was it?" I groaned, and Yukari chuckled.

"Not really. But she was the one who triggered the idea. Reimu and I were having a walk two years ago when we came across that idiotic fairy and the three mischievous ones..." began Yukari and leaned back in her chair, relaxed a bit, "By the way, this tournament would be the second, the first one was last year..."

"Anyways, back to the tale! Well, the four of them were playing a game they called 'Fairy Wars', a game in which the fairies killed each other as often as they could... As far as I can see, that game ends when every fairy has forgotten that they were having a war... which would be about six hours after they began... if they can count to six." continued Yukari, snickered towards the end.

Immediately, Nanatsu and Rumia covered their mouths to not spit the drinks they had across the room, while I just rolled my eyes. In Gensokyo, fairy jokes were highly popular. Even if you were no longer in Gensokyo. Once you came into contact with them for the first time, you understood the jokes and could not help but laugh at some of them.

"Anyways, that stupid fairy challenged the three mischievous fairies, saying that she could beat them in a three versus three match with Daiyousei and Wriggle at her side, but of course, the three mischievous fairies denied... at least they realized somehow that Wriggle was no fairy, and thus, not allowed to participate." smirked Yukari as she leaned onto her hands.

"But that is where I got the idea from. I already asked a few people, they agreed, so I already have seven teams... but I need a last one. And that's where you three come in." I rolled my eyes, but chuckled. "What do you think, gals? Wanna fight the strongest of Gensokyo? ...and everyone aside her?" Again, the two broke into laughter and I just rolled my eyes, a smug grin on my face.

Turning back to Yukari while Nanatsu and Rumia were recovering, I asked the question that was bugging me, though.

"But why us, Yukari? You know that we have retreated twenty years ago... I've seen no one aside my family since that day that I defeated Mima." I asked, before I added, "...if you leave that embarrassing day away when everyone went crazy about something.(3)"

"My... yes, that is true. Until today, I haven't seen you as well. Really now, was it that necessary to put three barriers around your house just to have some peace?" asked the sukima, raising an eyebrow.

"Certainly. Considering that Shikieiki respected our decision and opened a portal to the outside world in our basement..." I chuckled.

"What for?" inquired the Sukima no Youkai, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I needed distance from Gensokyo, Yukari... My past is way too entangled with Gensokyo... I needed distance... And yet had to live somewhere where I had access to groceries, space and such." I revealed, and unsurprisingly, the Sukima nodded.

"I can relate. Sometimes, I wish I had some distance to the daily, peaceful chaos of Gensokyo as well." commented Reimu with a thoughtful nod, "And I am only a human whose past with Gensokyo is way shorter than yours."

"Ah. How unfortunate that we didn't meet in this til now. I took Reimu here now and then, too." giggled Yukari, one gloved hand at the right side of her face.

"But now, back to the question as for why I chose you three..." smiled the Youkai Sage, clapping in her hands, "...I thought twenty years were enough and you may want to re-socialize with Gensokyo. A lot has happened, you know? And some people would like to see you three again."

I rose an eyebrow at the mysterious tone in Yukari's voice.

"You see... your 'sisters' do miss you, Chôzen. That brat of a vampire annoyed me a lot, you see? Asked me to break the barriers around your house, as for she couldn't do anything against them. Not enough, that is. The barrier of sins held her back ever so often." began Yukari, her mouth hidden behind her folding fan. Then, her eyes moved to Rumia.

"You're missed at Higan. And that nightsparrow is also eager to see you, Rumia. She has... interesting news for you." whispered Yukari silently, and Rumia gasped all of sudden when Yukari winked, confusing me.

"And of course, Nanatsu, you've been missed, too. Shikieiki Yamaxanadu and her ferryman Shinigami miss you a lot... and some other people do as well, like Shinki's maid... You're her shining example."

_"Nanatsu is Yumeko's shining example? Huh, never thought that."_ I mused silently.

I exchanged some glances with my two girls. Nanatsu send me a small smile, while Rumia seemed confused and irritated about something... what, I had yet to find out.

"What do you think, Chôzen? Going back to Gensokyo's daily life sounds fun, don't you think?" asked Nanatsu.

"Well, it sure has been a lot of chaos... fun chaos." added Rumia, leaning backwards, crossing her arms in behind her head.

Before I could tell them my opinion on this matter, though, we were interrupted. It was only quiet at first, and only Ran seemed to notice it. Fox ears or not, her sense of hearing seemed to surpass ours. When it resounded for the second time, we other noticed it as well... It sounded suspiciously lot like something falling over in the room above ours, followed by someone shouting.

Exchanging some quick glances with Nanatsu and Rumia, the three of us sweatdropped in perfect unison, and all muttered the exact same words at exact the same time.

"Oh crap, why now?"

Yukari, Ran, Chen and Reimu all sent us confused frowns, which only increased when a door flew open in the story above us, followed by more shouting. The shouts came closer, echoed down the corridor and grew louder and louder. The stairs creaked as someone came running down them, then sounded again as someone else followed. The screams finally grew loud enough to be comprehensible.

And then, it was silent.

"Well, that was odd. What was that abo...?" began Yukari, but was interrupted when the door flew open after all.

Everyone aside me and my wives cringed when the door flew open and slammed into the wall with enough force to nearly rip it out of its hinges. A girl with dark blonde, shoulder-length hair burst into the room, took two quick jumps through the kitchen, then pushed off the ground and twirled in midair, landed on the table and smirked mischievously towards the door just as another girl appeared in it.

The second girl, this one with wavy and black hair, narrowed her eyes at the other girl and swung her right hand. Silver shards flew through the room and the blonde girl dodged them, which in return almost caused Reimu to be hit by the shards.

The Hakurei Miko dove out of her seat as the silver shards, looking like they were broken right out of a mirror, embedded themselves in the wall behind her.

"Give it back!" hissed the strangely flustered, black-haired girl and shook her right hand once, creating new shards in it, "Give that back to me, please! You know that I..."

"That you what?" sniggered the blonde-haired girl as the black-haired girl trailed off and blushed furiously. The second girl was panting madly, puffed and snorted as she narrowed her eyes at the other girl... And suddenly seemed to notice that they weren't as alone in the room as they had thought.

She gasped aloud and blushed even more than before, the shards in her right hand vanished quickly and she rose to her full height, stood perfectly still.

The other girl seemed to be confused by this, then blinked and looked around. Her smirk vanished the second that her eyes laid onto a pissed Rumia. Her mouth formed a perfect circle and she cringed a little, chuckled uneasily.

"Well?" I commented, and the blonde-haired girl cringed as she heard my voice. She coughed.

"I'm sorry... maybe?" she chuckled uneasily, but I shook my head.

"Wrong answer, Yajû." I huffed and gestured her to come down from the table at this instant. She hopped off, coughed uneasily and crossed the room in only a few, quick steps. As the black-haired girl extended a hand to the other girl, she placed the object that their fight had been about in the first place in it.

"I... uh... You know that I don't even like them." she commented, and the black-haired girl nodded.

"I know. Still your fault that we are in this predicament now." hissed the black-haired girl quickly.

Perfect silence continued to be then until the black-haired girl quickly placed the lollipop that they had fought about in her mouth. And even then, silence remained as everyone in the room observed the two girls in the doorway.

The girl who had barged in first, the one with the blonde hair, had a black strand on the right side of her face and was playing with exactly that strand. Her red, piercing eyes had thin and green, moving lines within them, almost like lightning that danced on the red iris. She was examining the four visitors as well, seemed to be confused as to who they were and what they were doing in the kitchen.

She had regained her composure, had one hand on her slim waist and gently rubbed a spot there. Being more curvaceous than the other girl, something she sure liked to show off with that black tank top and the red skirt that went down to half of her upper legs, she also had a more womanly figure and seemed older, even though she was younger than the other girl.

As she let out a deep sigh and rolled her neck, a habit she had picked up from Rumia, the silver cross necklace shook gently, yet made no sound. Moving the hand that had played with the black strand down to her waist, she began to fiddle with the black jacket bound around her waist, which fit in color with her black sneakers.

Also, this girl had a little black make-up on her eyes to give herself a more mysterious and darker appearance, at least according to her. I, on the other hand, just felt unsure what to think about this black make-up. This girl's name was Yajû.

The other girl, standing with 1,60m a little smaller than Yajû, had violet highlights in her black, wavy hair. Her silver eyes, clear as glass, were trembling a little with the usual shyness, and quickly avoided my gaze. Overall, her physical appearance was rather petite and slim, and though she wasn't exactly incredibly muscular, she sure had some strength.

She was wearing a white pullover with a large collar, leaving her shoulders bare, two black straps visible on them that belonged to her black bra. Also, she wore a green skirt that went down to half of her upper legs and wore white socks reaching up to the ankles.

Furthermore, as she turned her head to avoid my gaze while her blush increased, a part of the tattoo on her upper back became visible for a second, the tattoo that represented the seven deadly sins... She had been born with this tattoo, it was a seal she obtained because of Nanatsu...

This girl was called Yume.

"Well?" I repeated eventually to break the silence, "What's it this time?"

Both girls froze up again at the sound of my voice, coughed gently but uneasily, and looked away from me again.

"Who are they?" dared Ran to ask, and as I turned to her, I noticed that she and Chen had their ears and tails exposed now.

"Girls, introduce yourself to everyone." I snorted in amusement and glanced back to the two girls in the door. My amusement faded, though, when I saw a sparkle in Yajû's eyes. She quickly stepped back into the room, walked towards the blonde woman at the table and extended a hand to her.

"Hi Mom, it's me." snickered Yajû and continued to smirk at her mother. Everyone else tilted their heads as Yajû continued to smirk and Rumia frowned, stopped to rock her chair backwards and forwards.

"You're kidding, right?" I huffed and Yajû turned to glance at me with the same amused smirk as before.

"Doy." she laughed, "Sure am, Dad."

"Mom? Dad?!" repeated Reimu and I saw how her jaw hit the table. So to speak, at least.

"Huh?" murmured Yukari, apparently not quite getting what Yajû had just implied. Or not believing it.

"Still don't get it? What about this then, Yukari?" I snickered and gestured Yajû to turn around and pull her tank top up. She did so without saying a thing.

She possessed a tattoo-like seal on her back that spread over her whole torso and represented a black cross. This was the seal that another woman in the room possessed as well: Rumia. It was the seal that the leader of all Angel of Death had on it's back.

Should Rumia ever die, this girl was to take Rumia's place as leader of all Angel of Death... though the only Angel of Death that had remained to work under the Yama of Gensokyo were Rumia, Sariel and this girl. Also, this girl had another tattoo on her body: A black 043 tattooed onto her right arm just beneath her shoulder that showed that she was the Angel of Death with the number 043, one higher as Rumia.

"Huh?" muttered Yukari again as Yajû pulled her tank top back down. At this, Rumia broke into a fit of laughter, slammed her can of coke down onto the table and shook her head, then leaned over to her sister.

"I'll give you a hint, Aunt Yukari... Oh, wait. That was the hint." snickered Rumia. And Yukari's jaw hit the table as well.

"Oh my, who would've thought." smiled Ran as she rose from her seat and bowed to the two girls, "Yajû, was it? Excuse my surprise, but I wouldn't have thought that Chôzen and Rumia would have a daughter so soon."

I snickered silently to myself and turned to glance from Yajû at Ran. The younger girl, sixteen in age, just shrugged.

"That surprises me. One should wonder why I don't have any sisters with the way Mom and Dad always treat each other... I mean, flirt, fight, f..."

"Yajû!" scolded Rumia, and our daughter trailed off to break into a fit of laughter.

_"Definitely Rumia's daughter. Just as bold and just as foul-mouthed."_ I thought to myself and rolled my eyes, then turned to Yume, who had remained to stand in the door, too shy to say anything.

"Yume?" I asked, and the black-haired girl cringed, "How about you introduce yourself at least? Properly, I mean."

She nodded shortly and her blush increased, then took a few steps into the room, where she finally bowed to our guests.

"My name is Yume Gekido and I am the daughter of Chôzen Gekido and Nanatsu no Taizai, whose seal I carry on my back. I may not appear like it, but I am a Shinigami, and the day that my mother should be no longer, I am to take her place as keeper of the sins and to take her name, no Taizai." she introduced herself shyly.

"Now that is a surprise. You got both of them pregnant." commented Reimu and sent me a lewd smile that I would've never expected from her back then, "You Casanova."

I rolled my eyes at her and waved it off. Yukari still seemed to be processing that her half-sister, Rumia, did have a daughter, while Ran and Chen were only smiling.

"Ran-sama was right about Chôzen-sama having daughters!" exclaimed the nekomata eventually, "And Yukari-sama didn't want to believe her!"

Meanwhile, Yume had resorted to stand behind her mother, nervous about all the attention she got. She was a shy girl, if I may say so, even though she always tried to help people that looked down, even if they were total strangers to her. If she had a flaw, it was her good nature.

"How old are they?" blurted Yukari finally out, apparently finally having processed that she was an aunt now.

"Sixteen, much like their appearance suggests. As you may know, Yukari, evolution has given most Youkai the growth of a human until they reach the twenty-fifth birthday. If you remember, and you should, back in our day, humans tended to notice that one was a Youkai because of their unnaturally slow aging process... Mystia, for example, is one of those who age slow." explained Nanatsu.

The Sukima nodded at this, but still seemed flabbergasted. Well, that's what you get for never visiting, Yakumo! That was something she had to chew on!

Yajû examined her aunt for a bit, then eventually shrugged and moved over to lean against the wall aside Rumia's chair. Yume, on the other hand, pulled up the last chair and sat down on it, remained quiet as Yukari eventually seemed to have processed what she had just heard and smiled at the two young girls, especially Yajû.

"Now that this is resolved... To use your words, Yukari... Back to topic. You said that there is a Team Tournament about to happen in Gensokyo, and you want us for it?" I spoke, turning the attention of Yukari back to me.

"Oh yes, and it will be interesting, believe me. And that tournament would be a great way for you three to find back into Gensokyo's daily life... and of course, meet it's next generation." chuckled Yukari... And hit us with surprise. Like she had planned ever since Yajû had burst into the room.

The next thing I knew was that Rumia fell over with her chair, surprised by the mention of 'next generation', while Nanatsu accidentally spilled some hot tea onto her right hand when she cringed at the words of the Sukima.

"N-next generation?" I asked.

"But of course! You didn't think you were the only ones to have have children, did you?" smiled Yukari, glancing towards Yajú, who stood leaned against the wall and watched all of us with interest... Especially Yukari, her aunt.

Rumia shot up from the ground, leaned onto the table.

"W-wait! Just how should that be possible?! Last time I checked, Gensokyo's population consisted of mostly females...and lesbians at that! Gensokyo's male population is, like, three percent at most!" gasped Rumia.

Yukari leaned back in her chair, laughing madly as if Rumia just had told her the greatest joke ever. Ran herself was stifling a giggle... just what was so funny?

"But Rumia, dear sister!" laughed Yukari, leaning back in her chair, "Gensokyo works a little different. Here, even girls can have offspring...how it works, I'll not tell~"

Rumia's jaw lay on the table by now, or so I swear. Her eyelids were twitching... and I myself looked pretty much alike.

"Just... love and magic, huh?" I chuckled uneasily, "I think Shikieiki mentioned something like that when we left."

"Pretty much." giggled Yukari, shrugging, "But you will see more once you actually return to Gensokyo. Interested?"

I didn't need to think about it for one second, but neither did Nanatsu and Rumia. We nodded.

"If it's a fighting tournament, I'm in! You know how I love to beat someone's ass around!" laughed Rumia and hammered a fist down on the table.

"Oh my, meeting everyone again could indeed be interesting. And meeting the next generation of Gensokyo could be of interest as well." agreed my other wife, nodding to herself.

"I agree. But we can't just leave this world like that, Yukari. People would notice and start looking for us..." I countered, but the Sukima shook her head.

"Let the International Demon and Youkai Observance Squad take care of that. One sign from me and they'll cover up your disappearance." chuckled Yukari, causing me to frown at her.

"You are involved with them?" I inquired and rose an eyebrow at her.

"I am the CEO, genius." laughed the Sukima, surprising not only me, rose from her chair and stretched her limbs.

"Now then!" she announced and looked at us, gestured the other three visitors to stand up as well, "I will prepare everything for your return. The tournament will start in three weeks, so you have time to train until then. I will be here on the Monday in three weeks to pick you five up. Everything clear?"

"Any rules for the tournament?" asked Rumia in reply. Yukari frowned at her half-sister, then closed her eyes

"Don't kill, that's all."

"Heck yeah, I'm in!" exclaimed the Angel of Death and then grinned at me and Nanatsu, "From tomorrow on, we three will be training, got it?"

"Understood." I laughed.

"Good. Ran, Chen, Reimu... We'll be taking our leave." exclaimed Yukari and opened a gap in the middle of our kitchen. The two women and the girl in question nodded, then walked over to the gap.

"Was good to see you again. I'll be expecting you to be one of my opponents in the tournament." smiled the adult Hakurei Miko.

"You're participating?" I asked, and Reimu nodded.

"Of course. You'll be surprised who I teamed up with, though. Anyways... I'll be seeing you in three weeks. Goodbye." smiled the Hakurei Miko, bowed, and then left through the gap. Ran and Chen bowed as well, then walked into the gap as well, leaving Yukari with me and my family.

"Whatever. I'll go and take a shower." announced Yajû with a groan and left the room, followed by Yume, even though she didn't say a word.

Yukari watched the two as they left, waited until both of them had left the room before she turned back to me, her expression now serious.

"They'll be coming along as well, I believe..." muttered the Sukima, then became pretty thoughtful, "What are their abilities? Sorry that I have to ask, but I don't want to risk anything. No matter what your power bonds with, Chôzen, the ability resulting from it could be dangerous. And seeing how Nanatsu's hellfire and Rumia's darkness are powerful as well..."

"Surprisingly, Yume's ability has proven to be non-destructive so far." I replied immediately, casually, "Her ability is to manipulate dreams. The only thing dangerous about her is that she inherited Nanatsu's physical strength."

Yukari frowned at this, apparently having suspected something more destructive.

"And my niece?" she mouthed.

At this, Rumia and I sighed in perfect unison and shared a thoughtful glance.

"We don't know." sighed Rumia and fell into the chair that Yukari had occupied before, "Yajû has shown to be strong, but she has not shown to possess any kind of ability like most Youkai. I fear that she has no ability at all."

Yukari nodded, but her thoughtful frown increased.

"I wouldn't be so sure." she muttered as she turned to her own gap, "I feel that Yajû might hold a great power... Do not forget: She is born from two insane personalities. That is what Yajû implied when she mentioned how you two treat each other, right?"

Rumia and I both nodded.

"Insanity was the active one..." I revealed to Yukari, and the Sukima nodded.

"Then be careful. All of you, not only Chô and Rumia. You three know the power that an insane personality holds... The child that results from the love of such personalities could hold a dangerous power. I don't know if it could be considered to be luck, but it seems that if she has such an ability, it is locked away..."

Yukari's words served their purpose, but we didn't need to think about the topic. We already had. We all knew the dangers of an insane personality, and I knew them most of us all. Not only had I fought against my own insane side more than once, but I also had to fight Rumia's insane side once, a battle that had almost torn me apart.

"We are aware, Yukari. But please let us not talk about that. Rather than that, tell me one thing before you leave: Has Mima been accepted by Gensokyo? And Yuuka?" I asked and rose an eyebrow at Yukari.

"Good news then: Mima has been accepted by Gensokyo, and so has Yuuka been again. It didn't happen immediately, some needed more time than others to accept her, but eventually, Mima has become a major part of Gensokyo's society." explained Yukari, but then frowned, "Why did you bring that up, though? You haven't seen her either for the past twenty years...?"

"Nineteen years." I corrected the Sukima, causing her to raise a delicate eyebrow at me, "You know, Yukari, some people visited at least once. And it is thanks to Mima, by the way, that our relationship finally worked like it should."

"What does Mima have to do with your relationship working?" inquired Yukari and turned fully back to us again.

"Mima left Gensokyo for a few months one year after we had left Gensokyo. You aren't even aware of that, hm?" I began, waited until Yukari shook her head, and then continued, "Well, she appeared here one day to see how we were doing... And noticed that our triangle relationship was still awkward."

"That wicked spirit thought it would be best to do something about that... Can't believe all it took was something as simple as what she did. We tried everything to get our relationship to work after all that we've been through... And then it's the one who started this mess that our relationship was that fixes it! And with such a simple thing!" groaned Rumia and shook her head.

"What did she do?" asked Yukari, not expecting that Nanatsu, Rumia and I would begin to laugh.

"She locked us into a room for a day." revealed Nanatsu, perplexing Yukari.

"She... locked you three into a room? That's all?"

"That was all it took, Yukari. At first, it was an uncomfortable silence. Then, we agreed that Mima sure had some nerve to do such a thing. At one point, Rumia was about to blast the door down. And then... Then we talked. And we just had to talk, that was all. All it took to make our relationship less awkward was to talk about it for one time." laughed Nanatsu, then emptied the remains of her tea in a last sip.

"I see. Cruel, but efficient, I guess." commented the Sukima with a last sigh, then turned to her gap, "I bet there is more that we have to talk about... Guess we could go on for hours, but I need to go back. The tournament isn't going to prepare itself, and I still need to take care of a lot of things... So this shall be the end of my visit. We can talk more once you return to Gensokyo."

She stepped into the gap, but didn't close it immediately. Instead, she remained standing there for a few seconds, one hand on the edge of the gap while she just stared into the void of her own world. And then, she turned to look over her right shoulder, the most sincere smile I had ever seen from her gracing her lips.

"It's good to have you three back. I've been missing you as well." smiled the Sukima, and then vanished inside her own world, closing the entrance to it behind her.

"Well, that was awkward!" chuckled Rumia after a few seconds, before she stretched herself a bit, "Alright! Training is starting tomorrow! We're not gonna lose that tournament!"

"Why not now? We just have to go through the gateway... We could train outside our house in Gensokyo, it's still separated from the rest by the three barriers. And what can I say, I could need a training session right now..." I smirked, but Rumia just waved a bit as she toddled out of the room.

"Nah, it's early on a Saturday, and I could use some more sleep. Only stood up because 'natsu kept complaining about you people being too noisy." yawned Rumia before she vanished around the corner.

"Well, that's true. She slept like a log." commented my other wife, before she shrugged, "Well, I go back to bed as well. What about you? 7 AM on a Saturday."

"Why not?" I sighed after a few seconds of thinking about the offer, "I guess a few more hours of sleep can't hurt. It isn't that much of paper work after all... And soon, it'll be over anyways. Never thought I miss the chaos of Gensokyo's daily life..."

Nanatsu just laughed at this, suddenly grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and proceeded to drag me along.

"Come on, loverboy." she giggled as she dragged me out of the kitchen.

"That is so disturbing." commented Yajû in an amused tone as she suddenly stepped out of the bathroom, chewing on bubblegum, "Get a room, you two."

Nanatsu stopped for a second, sent Yajû a glance that was just as amused, and then shook her head and dragged me after her again.

"That was just what we were about to do, Yajû. With your mother." called Nanatsu over her shoulder.

Yajû left this without a comment, stepped out of the bathroom to make place for her half-sister Yume, who just appeared in the door to the living room, and snickered as she vanished in exactly that room.

It seemed hard to believe, but my daughters had easily accepted the weird relationship of Nanatsu, Rumia and me... Looking at it, I always thought that it was pretty touching how Yajû and Yume had accepted the woman aside their respective mother as something like a second mother.

Something I also had thought of as... Touching was the wrong word, but it was pretty relieved when I talked with Nanatsu about it.

The sole reason that Yume came to be was that both Nanatsu and I had, after all those centuries, moved on. It was hard, and even though we had always avoided the topic, one day after Rumia had announced that she wanted to have a child with me, Nanatsu and I had chosen a moment of being alone to talk.

To talk about our first child. About the child that was denied life.

I admit that I had thought about it many times after we had left Gensokyo. Back then, if the child would have not been a stillbirth... What would've happened?

I would've never returned to Gensokyo, would've never separated from Nanatsu. Insanity would've not come to be, and I would've possibly not met Rumia for the first time, would've not fallen in love with her. I would've never met Mima that early, and she would've not channeled all her hatred at me.

My nihilism would've worn off way earlier due to Nanatsu's influence. I would've never met Remilia or Satori, would've never become the object of Okuu's temporary anger... And would've not lost my memories. That in return would've prevented the entire chaos that I referred to as "The four years incidents" or "The Negative Bullet Incident"...

There would've been so many things that could've been prevented, but also things that I would've missed... To believe that it all started with one unfortunate day...

That is all that it takes.

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. (4)

Anyways... Despite the fact that neither of us wanted to, we talked about it, and finally came to terms with it. Accepted the loss our first child, the one that was denied life and was a stillbirth.

And only after that were we able to start anew. Only after that were we able to have another child. And that one was Yume.

I don't even know what gender our first child was... Nanatsu had told me that it was going to be a girl, but I never saw it myself. And yet I did not question it. I trusted Nanatsu.

Maybe it was Yume. Maybe she had been given another chance when Nanatsu and I came to terms with the death of our first child.

Maybe it was all better that way.

No matter what... The dream of our dead child had not haunted me for a long time.

And it didn't this time either when I fell asleep, cuddled in between my wives.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again and took in my surroundings, I was not where I remembered to have fallen asleep.

Instead of a dimly lit bedroom, I laid on a flower field. It was fairly dark, not much sunlight reached the meadow and it was fairly windy, and so, it was fairly cold. A great number of white flowers were all around me, flowers I knew to be called Suzuran, or also Lily of the Valley. Poisonous flowers. Not like I cared, though.

I stretched my limbs and sat up, looked around. In the distance, I saw a familiar mountain... I had been here before.

I was on Nameless Hill, the mountain in the distance was Youkai Mountain.

I was in Gensokyo again.

Seeing this, I closed my eyes again. In front of my inner eye, vague images flashed. It had been so long since I had last been here. This time, I wouldn't leave. At least not once I was fully here. I was dreaming again, wasn't I? I had entered Gensokyo within my dream...

"Hey, you!" exclaimed a voice and I perked up, opened my eyes to see a young girl standing before me. At least, she appeared to be a little girl at first glance, but then I noticed the doll joints and the small doll that sat in her blonde, curly hair.

"What?" I brought forth, and for some reason, scared the living hell out of the Doll Youkai. I had seen her before once... Her name escaped me, though...

"Holy, you're really...?!" she gasped and quickly jumped away from me.

"I'm really what?" I groaned. She was just as obnoxious as I remembered her.

She observed me, examined me. It didn't escape me that she seemed shocked and confused, and it didn't escape me that her gaze stopped on my face ever so often, rested there for a while.

"Nevermind." was eventually the only word that the Doll Youkai brought forth.

She remained to stand there, though, even as I averted my gaze and continued to look at Youkai Mountain, taking in the details of the large mountain. Didn't bug me in the slightest, even though I knew and felt that she was still staring at me.

Eventually, though, I decided to address her again.

"Did you become a tree again, you wooden replica of a human? Grew roots, did ya? Now, either you sit down, or you leave." I snorted as I glared at her. The doll took offense at that and puffed her cheeks, but actually found myself somewhat surprised as the Doll Youkai walked over to me and sat down aside me.

"Why don't you leave? You know where we are, right? Those flowers are poisonous." she asked after a while of silence. Comfortable silence.

"I know. And I know that you tried to infuse some poison into me just now. But neither of them is going to kill me... I am at my full power, poison does not hurt me." I snorted in reply. The Doll Youkai flinched and withdrew her hand from my right leg, her finger tips closing again and hiding thin needles that way.

I glared at her from out of the corner of my eyes, let no emotion flow into my bilious green eyes that the Doll Youkai seemed to fear so much. Why did she fear my eyes?

As she looked away, surprised and shocked that her poison would not kill me, I noticed a small detail about her, a habit that most wouldn't notice. As she pondered, her tongue traced her lower teeth. And as I saw this small habit of hers, something I actually found pretty cute, I let a small smile spread onto my lips, then turned away again to look over to Youkai Mountain.

"Melancholy." I mouthed after another while of, this time not as comfortable, silence. The Doll Youkai cringed and glared at me, the smaller doll in her hair tilting her head a little in confusion. "Melancholy. Your name was Melancholy, was it not?"

She huffed, something that made her look even more like a little girl rather than a Doll. She actually looked pretty much like a girl, and if it hadn't been for her doll joints I would've mistaken her as such.

"Medicine Melancholy. That is what I've been called." she replied and followed my gaze with her own towards Youkai Mountain.

"A nice name, isn't it? I never said it until now, but I like such names... Names that carry a hidden meaning. A medicine for melancholy... I wish there was such a thing." I chuckled softly and closed my eyes.

_"I am talking with a doll... I must be going mad. But I guess it's alright. Because, even though she is with me... I am alone. Can you really consider a tsukomogami, a Youkai born from a lifeless object that remained forgotten for one hundred years, company? It has come to life, but inside, it is still lifeless. No beating heart. __No lungs. No digestive system. And do they possess a brain?"_

"If you say so." was the emotionless reply of the doll gone Youkai.

It became silent between us again, and this time, it was a comfortable silence again. No word needed to be spoken, and there was no word to be spoken.

This silence was only broken as I felt a soft weight on my right shoulder. Looking down at it, I found that the smaller doll had sat down on it. Medicine was looking at the small doll on my shoulder as well. And for some reason, began to smile softly.

"It seems that Su-san trusts you..." she whispered, then turned to look at Youkai Mountain again, "I guess I can trust you this time as well."

I rose an eyebrow at this, then moved one hand through my midnight black hair.

"Trust me this time?" I repeated, "What do you mean?"

But Medicine shook her head, showed me that she was not going to explain it. And I wouldn't force her.

As time continued to flow, Gensokyo's day slowly turning to evening, we continued to sit there in perfect silence.

And as the last light faded and the day became night, I knew that my time was about to end.

And still, I sat there with Medicine and Su-san until the day came to an end and the last star had begun to shine.

* * *

(1) The thing I refer to here is "Chapter 14 - The young scarlet mistresses ~ Heir to Dracula" of 0-Negative Memory.

(2) My friends use this to annoy me all day.

(3) What Chôzen refers to at that point are the events of the spin-off "Negative Interest", which happen shortly after I-NB.

(4) A line of the Joker from the Batman Comic "The Killing Joke". I just love "The Killing Joke".

* * *

_Tada, second chapter!_

_Lots of storytelling this time... Thought it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to make Chôzen tell the events of 0-NM, I-NB and 1.5 - NI from his view real quick. Just so that everyone has it in mind... The past installments are going to be important this time, especially, like I already said, some hints that I dropped through I-NB, starting from halfway through it._

_Anyways, going four weeks back in time, much like towards the end of chapter one, we find that Chôzen is still pretty much himself, even though a lot has changed!_

_He's still with Rumia and Nanatsu, is still happy and actually has two daughters... So how could things go so wrong in just four weeks? How could our happy enigma become such a depressive, lost person in just four weeks? What happened?_

_Well, that's what this all will be about! Excited? You'll never figure it out until I'm ready to reveal it, believe me! _

_By the way... "Yajû" means "wild beast", something I found fitting the daughter of an Angel of Death with a personality just as wild and untamed as her mother's. "Yume", as many now, means "Dream", something that fits with her ability to manipulate dreams._

_And then there is the scene with the return to Gensokyo in a dream... is it really just a dream? And has he finally managed to befriend the Doll Youkai Medicine Melancholy?_

_So much to answer, but we are only at the beginning!_

_Next time, we'll focus on some training, some more Gekido family, and some more changes that happened during the twenty years!_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm SorrowfulReincarnation, and I see you next time!_

_So long~_


	3. Arc I - Ch III Our fights

_Yo! How's it going, guys and gals? Welcome back for the next chapter of II-Negative Mind._

_I think I shocked you last time... After all, only four weeks seemed to lay between the visit of Yukari, where everything seemed to be okay, and the event in the godforsaken land, where a depressed enigma seemed to have lost everything._

_And then of course, there was the fact that Chôzen had a daughter with both Rumia and Nanatsu... The Gekido Family grew a little. _

_So, after moving on to review time, we`ll continue where we left of: Chô, Nana and Rumia being about to train._

**Tez7...** Four weeks, indeed. Funny how fast things can go down the drain, huh? Good to know that it was to your liking!

**Nicolas Crossworth...** I don't think you are losing your touch, but I also don't think I'm being awesome... Rather than that, I think it has to do with me using a new program to check my chapters for mistakes that I made. I fear, though, that I'll eventually will do mistakes again, whether I like it or not. Until now, they always managed to find their way in somehow... *growl*

And... Woah, didn't think I'll make you speechless with the little surprises... I fear for your health, since there are more on the way... Eventually.

And no, Insanity did not possess me. I AM Insanity *laughs sinisterly*.

_Sup, that's it! Ready for the chapter now? Let's start, shall we?!_

_By the way: New Disclaimer!_

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Yume Gekido and Yajû Gekido-Shisô do belong to me, as for I have created them.

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Our fights**_

_3 weeks and 6 days until the event in the godforsaken land..._

"Come on, don't lazy around!" laughed the Angel of Death with a full mouth as she jumped up from the table, spraying crumbs of bread everywhere. She quickly swallowed her breakfast, grabbed a can of the coke that she was so fond off, gulped it's contents down and then ran out of the room.

I chuckled uneasily as she charged out of the room, shared a glance with an equally uneasy Nanatsu, and then returned to eat my breakfast.

"She's really into this, isn't she? Yukari announced our return to Gensokyo and that tournament just yesterday, and there goes Rumia, eager to train." I smiled, unenthusiastically poking my food.

"You can't tell me you're not exited about this. You've been thinking about going back to Gensokyo's ways for a while now as well, right?" giggled my first wife from where she stood by the fridge. I couldn't deny that, but didn't nod either. I just continued to poke my food.

"What's the problem? Why are you so down?" she asked as she pulled up a chair and sat down aside me. I looked up for a few seconds, pondered about if to tell her or not, but then finally let out a defeated sigh and slumped my shoulders, let my fork fall onto the table.

"I don't know... I guess it's just... We're going back to Gensokyo for a tournament, will possibly stay there forever this time... And it just doesn't feel the same." I replied.

"And why? You're not telling me everything, right?" she countered, hitting the nail on the head. I chuckled softly as I glanced up at Nanatsu again.

"Am I that transparent?" I muttered as I picked up my knife and waved it around a bit, wielded it like a little sword, "Actually, this problem arose on our last day in Gensokyo, but I didn't care about it. Didn't have to, since we left Gensokyo."

Nanatsu frowned and leaned onto the table.

"It's the fights we are going to have. And the lack of Alastor." I eventually revealed, "When Kyômi forced me to fight you, I first noticed how lost I was without that blade. I had nothing to throw back at you, all spellcards that would've served as attack requiring a far too large area... I may be able to fight hand-to-hand, but let's face it: If my opponent wields a weapon, like you and Rumia do, I'm pretty much screwed."

My wife took in these information, seemed to think about them for a while, and eventually nodded.

"I see your point, but you seem to forget that the fights we had always were under special conditions, namely that it were always fights that decided over life and death. Remember: We're going to use the spellcard rules for the tournament, which means that you can just use bullets. And you're good at that, right?" smiled Nanatsu and rose from the chair.

"Well, it's been a while since I last actually used bullets without spellcards, so..." As I pondered aloud, I pointed my left hand towards the next wall and concentrated.

I had not expected my powers to respond immediately. A green bullet burst forth from my left hand, shot through the room at an insane speed and hit the silver teakettle. It reflected off the shining surface, flew over Nanatsu's head and hit the lamp. As it hit the corner of a silver decoration that adorned the lamp, the bullet parted in two, both halves less powerful and slower than before, but still dangerous.

"Woah!" yelled Yajû, who had just appeared in the door, as she dove out of the way of one half. This half finally hit the wall on the opposite side of the corridor and exploded there, leaving back a black scorch mark on the wall.

The other half of the bullet had meanwhile reflected towards the open window and flew out of it. The next thing that I heard was a gasp of pain from Rumia, and then loud cursing.

"The hell?! Thought we go home to Gensokyo before we start the damn training session!"

I sweatdropped.

"Sorry, Rumia!" I called out of the window, only to wonder to myself what she was doing outside.

"Now that was cool!" exclaimed Yajû as she finally entered the room, "Dad, you're awesome!"

"It was an accident...?" I chuckled, but Yajû had already stopped listening and had focused on Yume, who had entered the room as well now.

"What is wrong with Rumia...?" muttered mine and Nanatsu's daughter as she glanced to the open window and watched as Rumia ranted on about me being still the same clumsy fool as back then.

"She just... uh... She has a bad day. Yeah." I lied quickly, earning a frown from the young Shinigami. But instead of questioning my obvious excuse, Yume shrugged and focused on her mother. If she wasn't around strangers, she was far more composed, her shyness not as worse as it usually was. The fact that she had a lollipop in her mouth was helping as well... She could keep a lot calmer than usual if she was enjoying one.

"Who was that woman yesterday? I think you implied that she was Yajû's aunt? Is she Rumia's sister then?" asked Yume as she sat down on a chair.

"Half-sister." replied Nanatsu, "Her name is Yukari Yakumo. You should know her... We told you two the stories of our time in Gensokyo, didn't we?"

Yume nodded, and so did Yajû, even though she wasn't even really paying attention to us. She had sat down in a chair as well, but had almost immediately closed her eyes and was now fighting against tiredness, nodding off every few seconds.

"Too early on a Sunday, huh?" I chuckled at the sight of my wild daughter almost falling asleep. In response, she woke up anew and sent me a short glare. She did not comment it, however, merely went back to sleep in a matter of seconds.

I shook my head at this, amused at the reaction from my wild daughter. Even if she was the wild, lively and bold one, she was actually the daughter that we were worried about, rather than our shy Yume. This worry was due to the reason that she seemed to possess no powers at all, despite the things that all Youkai had, namely enhanced physical abilities.

Her sister would be very well able to stand her ground. She was shy and held back, avoided fights and rather tried to resolve a problem through words. Because she didn't get into many fights and avoided them, we knew she would not have as many problems as Yajû, who often picked fights, to begin with. And even if Yume did get into a fight, her physical strength inherited from Nanatsu made things easy for her, as well as her strong magical powers.

While her ability wasn't made for a fight, it still allowed Yume to have some advantages in a fight. Her ability to manipulate sleep extended to herself as well, and actually went past the ability to manipulate just sleep. Rather than that, it allowed her to manipulate anything related to the loss of consciousness or something that involved it. As such, she was immune to any kind of drowsiness, but could also inflict it. Aside that, her bullets, which had the form of silver shards, were strong and fast.

Yajû, on the other hand, had only her physical abilities to rely on. Whenever she tried to create bullets, they were weak and crippled, moved at speed slower than a slug, and dissipated after seconds. With no magical abilities, and that despite being an Angel of Death like her mother Rumia, she wasn't exactly fitting to be their next leader, even though she had the personality for it.

And that was the next problem: Yajû was too hotheaded. While she definitely had a strong personality that would make her a good leader, she charged into a fight rather than thinking of a strategy. Rumia wasn't much better, or at least it seemed that way, but I had learned with the years that she was just quick when it came to finding a enemy's weakness and adjusting to a change, even in the middle of an attack.

But it wasn't only Yajû we were worried about... Our worry for Yajû was due to her lack of magical abilities and any personal ability, as well as her personality. She'd run into problems in Gensokyo with her hotheaded, cocky attitude and her constant fight picking, especially in combination with her lack of ability and bullets. After all, bullets were the main way of attacking during a spellcard battle, which she, without a doubt, would run into.

At the same time, we were worried about Yume as well, though. Not as much as Yajû, but still. Yume's shy personality would keep her out of fights, but would also make it hard for her to find new friends. And then, there was something else regarding Yume...

"Yume, Yajû... Could you please go and inform Rumia that we're about to head out?" I asked as I glanced towards the two girls. They both nodded, even though Yajû sent me a knowing frown, indicating that she knew that it was just an excuse to have them out of the room. I waited until the two of them had left, then turned to Nanatsu.

"Still no sign of it, right?" I muttered, and Nanatsu let out a sigh. She knew what I was talking about.

"No... Well, not exactly." she muttered and closed her eyes, "I don't understand why the powers of Taizai are crippled within her. She does bear my sign, she does bear the seal of the sins on her back... But it's like it isn't at full power. It's like the power is missing from it." I nodded softly and glanced out of the window, watched as Yajû and Yume approached Rumia.

"But isn't it said that the firstborn of your bloodline will carry on the curse?" I asked, receiving a gentle nod from my first wife.

"True. It is said that my first offspring is to continue my curse, the seal of the seven sins being displayed on it's back. It will not be able to use the seven sins, and the embodiment will not carry on to it's back, until I have died... But that is not the reason that the powers are crippled within her. They should already be at full strength, merely sealed within her..." muttered Nanatsu and looked out of the window as well.

"Could it be that the powers would get lost... if your first offspring was a stillbirth?" I asked carefully, turned to look at her with worry. Nanatsu didn't look back, merely shook her head after a few seconds.

"No... No, with the death of our first child, the powers should've moved on to the next child that would be in my bloodline." she breathed, "And please let us not talk about this anymore. That child is dead... So let it rest in peace."

"Got it." I sighed and silently shook my head. Turning back to look out of the window, I watched as Rumia scolded Yajû for something she did while I had been looking away... Probably picked on her older half-sister again. Yajû loved to do that, after all.

"What about Yajû? Yume may not be able to ever call onto the powers of the seven sins, but at least she has another power. Yajû on the other hand..." began Nanatsu, but I shook my head and interrupted her, showing her that I had understood her point and had a reply.

"Either Yukari is indeed right and her powers are merely sealed within her, something that would make me even more worried than to begin with, or she just... has no powers. Could've to do with the fact that Insanity is actually her father, and that Insanity's negation abilities, which are greater than mine, affected Yajû somehow." I mused aloud, earning a small frown from Nanatsu.

"Could be the case." she agreed, "Either way, we should be careful. About both of your daughters. Their personalities, powers and the lack thereof could lead to... problems. Especially with Yajû." muttered the Shinigami.

"Yeah." I sighed and rose from my chair just as Yume and Yajû approached the house with Rumia, "Either way... Better safe than sorry. We should keep an eye out for both of them once we have returned to Gensokyo. Problems may arise."

It was that moment that I heard the front door open and knew that it was indeed time to leave. Nanatsu seemed to know as well, as she nodded towards me when I glanced at her.

"We shouldn't keep Rumia waiting... Ready?" asked Nanatsu as she rose from her seat and picked up our plates to put them aside.

"Yeah." I replied and turned to my daughters just as they entered the kitchen again, "Are you coming along? You've never been in Gensokyo, even if it is just the old house, right?"

"Why the hell not? Always wanted to see where you three met each other." smirked Yajû and gave me a thumbs-up. I nodded at this, and a single nod from my other daughter confirmed that she'd come along as well. I have to admit, I always wanted to show them where I spent my best and my worst days, so going back to Gensokyo like that was kind of my wish being fulfilled.

Rumia peeked into the room, but didn't say a thing. She merely gestured that we should go already, and I nodded. The blonde stepped back into the corridor and I began to follow her. It was time to leave. We wouldn't stay in Gensokyo just now, would merely stay inside the three barriers to train... But that was good enough for me. It was exciting enough.

Without as much as a word, I stepped past my daughters and left the room, met up with Rumia in the corridor. She smirked widely at me, nodded towards the stairs leading up into the first story, and then nodded.

"Excited, aren't we?" I commented with a short chuckle and turned to the stairs, Rumia walking aside me.

"Perhaps. I think Yukari's words hit a nerve in me... It's been twenty years and we lived our lives. Our quiet lives. You see my point there, I guess? We're not made for peace, we're not made for quiet lives. We love the thrill of fighting... Especially we two, Chôzen. Especially we two live for the thrill of the moment, the adrenaline and even the pain... Isn't that the case?"

"True enough." I replied with a glance into the direction of my second wife. She was right. We loved to fight, loved to control and to hurt, but also liked being hurt... In a sense. It was the constant exchange between sadism and masochism that thrilled me in a fight, the constant rush of adrenaline... But it wasn't only that which made me enjoy a fight. It was also the bond between the fighters, the heart-to-heart moments in a fight.

As fists fly, hearts bond.

With that thought echoing in my head, I couldn't help but smile. Maybe Nanatsu was indeed right... Maybe I didn't need Alastor now. For now.

It's been twenty years since I last wielded that blade, the blade of guilt that had chosen me as it's master. I knew I'd eventually wield it again... That was the unspoken promise that Alastor had made. When it left because I had been dieing away, Alastor promised me that only I would ever be it's master, no matter what.

It had shown that it held this promise when it sent it's spirit to me in my fight against Nanatsu and Rumia, who had been manipulated by Kyômi, the Doll Youkai that had been able to manipulate interest.

Perhaps this was for the better, anyways. I knew that Alastor was waiting for the right moment to return. It was waiting for me to prove myself worthy again. And while he was waiting, I had the chance to improve my other skills. Losing it had opened my eyes... I had relied too much onto the blade. And for that tournament, I'd need all of my powers at their old level... After all, we were going to fight the strongest of Gensokyo, right?

Reaching the spot under the trapdoor to the attic, I waited until the four women had approached me. Only then did I raise myself onto my tiptoes and reached for the handle and pulled the hatch open, revealing the wooden stairs to the attic.

As I climbed the stairs, neither of them creaked, the reason for that being that we had barely ever used them. The attic was mostly empty, save for a few spiders that enjoyed their life in the darkness of the unused room. In fact, the stairs looked perfectly clean, save for a thin layer of dust. After all, we barely ever went back to Gensokyo, especially after Yume and Yajû had been born. Come to think of it... After the two of them had been born, we never once set foot back into the old house.

Damn, there was going to be a lot of dust there!

No word was spoken as I reached the top of the stairs and looked around in the unused room. It was dark inside the attic, but thanks to my glowing eyes, the room was illuminated in a soft, green hue. But that wasn't the only light source in the room. Another green light waited on the other side of the room, right where the gateway was waiting.

_**"About time."**_ echoed a voice inside my head and I let out an amused snort, shook my head at the cocky tone in the voice that I heard.

"Hello to you as well, Flame. It's been a while." I called out and approached the light. A snort was the reply, but again, only I heard it echoing inside my head.

_**"Don't give me that! Do you know how bored I've been, waiting for you to come here? You promised to let me out once in a while!"**_complained that voice.

I finally reached the source of the light. It was a gray orb hovering at the height of my chest, enclosed in a bilious green flame. As I extended a hand, the orb sat down on it. It wasn't hot. Not now, at least. Rather than that, it was actually surprisingly cold... No wonder. It negated the heat around it, after all.

"Dad? Who are you talking to?" came Yume's surprised question from behind me, and as I turned to face her, the flame within my hand cringed.

_**"DUDE! It's been seventeen years that you let me stay up here, barely ever giving me any information about what's going on down there, and then it turns out that you got both of...?!"**_

"Shut up." I hissed and the voice in my head stopped immediately. The flame rose from my hand, but instead of returning to the location of the closed gateway, which looked like a distortion in midair (kinda like looking through really hot air), it began to orbit around my head at the height of my forehead.

Of course this flame was nothing else but the Flame-Soul, a part of my soul that had been split from the rest as I received the nihilism, or rather, put on the mask of no more future.

The Flame-Soul was a split part of my soul with an own personality... A sarcastic, direct and kind of perverted one. He had been of great help to me during my four year adventure in Gensokyo, possessing parts of my power and giving me the ability to exchange messages with other people due to telepathy of the Flame-Soul, which allowed him to talk with me, but also with others.

The only downside of the Flame-Soul was that he could be kind of annoying. I couldn't just get away from him, however. The bond between me and him was so strong that it acted kind of like an elastic band: If the distance between us was too great, we were kind of pulled towards each other, usually him being pulled towards me.

However, as my full powers had returned during the fight with Mima, this bond relaxed slightly, allowing us far greater distances between each other. And that was how he had been able to stay within the attic over the last years while I had lived a rather normal life. I wasn't forced to swallow the flame anymore during visits to the world outside Gensokyo and could move around freely.

Of course, it hadn't been exactly fair towards him to 'lock him up' in the attic... Then again, though, he didn't feel time as much as others did. A couple of years was actually like a week to him, even though he always pretended it to be different. Having no real material body, however, most laws, such as time, did not affect him.

In other words: He just pretended to be annoyed. If not for the fact that I had contacted him during the night before, he wouldn't even have noticed that years had passed. He had actually believed it had been two or three days since I had last talked to him. In reality, that event lay almost eighteen years ago.

It hadn't been that hard to reach him. I only had to open the old link between us again and we were once more in contact with each other. The much harder part was to explain his existence to my daughters... Neither did the two of them know about the Flame-Soul, nor Insanity...

_**"Yo! Nanatsu, Rumia! How nice of you to drop by!"**_ I heard the Flame-Soul's voice inside my head and immediately knew that it had talked to them as well. Or at least... had tried to.

Nanatsu smiled widely at the Flame-Soul, while Rumia just continued to look straight at it as if it hadn't said a thing. Instead, Yajû cringed and looked around in shock.

"W-what the...?!" she cried out and looked quite scared, her eyes darting through the empty attic in search of the person that had talked to her.

_**"Oh. Wrong blonde angel of death there, sorry. But she sure does come after her mother, huh?"**_

Rolling my eyes at the Flame-Soul, I turned to my wives and my daughters. Explaining this wouldn't be easy, and now wasn't the best moment for it, to be honest. I could feel my fingers itching, could feel how my hands balled into fists ever so often.

I was yearning for a good fight.

"Yume, Yajû, this is the Flame-Soul. It is part of me, for the lack of a better description. It is a split part of my soul that acts independently from me. As for what you just heard, Yajû... The Flame-Soul cannot speak. Rather than that, it speaks through telepathy to those who it chooses it hear it. That's all you need to know about it for now." I explained.

Hearing this, Yajû turn to examine the Flame-Soul a bit closer, excitement obvious in her eyes.

"Dad... You're getting cooler with every thing you do today. First you throw these bullets, and now your soul is split in two!" sniggered the younger Angel of Death and stepped closer, extending one hand towards the Flame-Soul out of curiosity.

_**"Hey, this is no petting zoo! What do I look like, some bunny?!"**_ snapped my Flame-Soul before Yajû could touch it, causing the young girl to flinch away.

"Stop being so grumpy, she was just curious. It's not every day you see a living flame, you know? Besides, you can ease up now, old grumpy bastard. We're going back to Gensokyo." I huffed towards the Flame-Soul, which immediately began to orbit my head again in excitement.

_**"Alright, I'll behave!"**_

We all rolled our eyes at the green flame, even Yajû and Yume.

"Fine. Now that we solved that problem..." I grunted and turned to the gateway, "Rumia, Nanatsu... Ready?"

My two wives nodded and stepped up to me and the gateway. I waited until they were in position, then followed their movement and rose my right hand, pointed it's palm at the distortion before us. Using this chance, I got a good glimpse at my own right hand. A black, tight leather glove was enveloping it. Had been like that for the past twenty years, to be true. Neither Yume, nor Yajû knew what I hid beneath it. Soon, they would.

There was no sense in hiding my secret (well, not exactly "secret") in Gensokyo. Not only did most of them know about the lack of flesh that my right hand presented, but most had accepted it and had told me to accept it as well. As time passed, I had stopped disgusting the white bones that had been revealed after my hand burnt away in the battle with Utsuho Reiuji.

"Gateway, heed my command. I repent." I chanted in perfect unison with Nanatsu and Rumia. The gateway listened to our command, the distortion stopped moving and instead turned into something that resembled Yukari's gaps a lot, save for the ribbons at each end and the inside showing the basement of our old house rather than a world of black with floating eyes.

Rumia was the first one to step through the gate, followed by Nanatsu and my Flame-Soul. Both Yajû and Yume looked a little hesitant, but I shook my head to show them not to be, and stepped through the gate myself, anticipation flooding my system as my return to Gensokyo, be it as temporary as it was, drew closer and came within reach.

As I stood on the other side of the gateway, nothing and yet everything felt different.

All of my tiredness was gone. It felt like my entire body was relaxing, bathing in the magic air within Gensokyo... Even though we had yet to return to Gensokyo completely. The thrill of at least being within Gensokyo, even if within the three barriers, was exciting as it was. The thrill was back.

I felt alive again.

Rumia and Nanatsu seemed no different, both of them were smiling widely as their respective daughter stepped through the gateway as well. And with Yume on this side of the gate, it closed behind her, turned back into what looked like hot air.

_**"Feels good to be home."**_ commented my Flame-Soul as it resumed to orbit my head.

"True. But we're here to train, like I told you last night. Our real, official return to Gensokyo won't be for another three weeks." I replied, glancing towards the flame as it hovered past my face.

"Exactly. Now stop wasting time, I need a fight right now! It's been too long!" snickered Rumia from the side and boldly pushed past me towards the stairs, leaving the basement within a matter of seconds. Shrugging into Nanatsu's direction, I followed the Angel of Death, our daughters right behind me.

As I left the basement, memories flooded my head, pictures of the time that I used to live in this house and spent my days with Nanatsu and Rumia. Not all of the memories were good, but I drowned the bad ones out, allowed a smile to grace my lips as I let my eyes trail over the furniture that was covered in a thin layer of dust, and followed Rumia through the open front door into the garden.

The first thing that I saw were the three barriers. Like a gigantic black wall, the barrier of darkness towered over the house, surrounded it. I knew that the other two barriers, the barriers of both sins and negative energy, lay beyond the black wall, though. They were waiting for us to destroy them, that for sure.

Rumia was leaning against the wall aside the door, smirking widely at me. She had only one eye open, excitement and even a little bit of bloodlust glowing within it's crimson iris.

I didn't wait any second longer. Stepping away from the door and onto the large free space in front of the house, I turned to face her and set my hands ablaze in emerald energy. I found myself only a little bit surprised as I noticed that the color of my negative energy had gone from a deep green to an emerald color. Over the years, I had used it several times, even if only to look if I still had my powers, and had noticed the change of color.

Of course, this change of color could've to do with my powers still being restricted. By the decision of the Circle of Yama, Shikieiki had to limit my powers before I had been allowed to leave into the human world. The seal put onto me would be removed once I had fully returned to Gensokyo.

However, I knew that the change in color of my negative energy was not because of my power being limited, but rather because of it's full potential being unlocked, something it had been ever since my fight with Mima. Sure, it was heavily limited for now, but the potential was still within me, awaiting to be released.

"Easy there, hot stuff. I want a fight against Nanatsu first! After that is taken care of, we two can dance." laughed the Angel of Death the moment that Nanatsu had stepped out of the house. I felt myself frown at this, but decided not to complain. After all, a riled up Rumia used to fight with more passion and ferocity, turning a normal sparring exactly into what I was looking for: A good fight.

Nanatsu didn't seem to complain. All she did was nodding once with a serious expression.

And with that, our training began.

* * *

_~ Nanatsu against Rumia! This just calls for: Tommy Heavenly6 - Papermoon ~_

"Ready or not, here I go!" roared the Angel of Death as she rose her right hand above her head in what almost seemed like a trance, her hand leaving back a red trail of energy in midair.

The girls and I had moved aside, a good distance between us and the two women. After all, I knew how destructive Rumia could be.

We watched as Rumia pointed her palm towards the sky above us, her grin turning into a nasty smirk. And as she swung her hand down, red lightning shot out of the sky and gathered in her palm, taking the shape of an only all too familiar blade.

Tyrfing shone in all it's dark glory, the fangs at the tip of the blade looking just as dangerous as I remembered them. Unlike back then, however, red veins began to curl up Rumia's forearm, pulsating as red energy flew through them.

The nasty smirk of Rumia turned into a wild, untamed one. Her expression turned into something that could almost be considered to be mad. And that was the Rumia I knew. Considerate and sarcastic, but also wild and aggressive within a fight.

Nanatsu waited no second to respond to Rumia's actions. She reached over her right shoulder with her right hand, closed her eyes for just a single second. That was enough to call onto Shi no Taizai, her scythe, the legendary weapon said to balance the counterparts Tyrfing and Alastor, the unalike brothers.

While Tyrfing hadn't really changed, save for the addition of pulsating veins on Rumia's right forearm, Shi no Taizai had changed with the years. With Nanatsu finally getting a hold of her emotions, her powers also began to "cooperate", something that affected Shi on Taizai as well.

As Nanatsu drew the scythe, it looked just like it had always done: Almost as tall as Nanatsu with a black, wooden hilt and a sharp, red blade. But as she twirled it once, something she had always done, the scythe changed.

The red blade lost all it's color, turned first white, then silver. A second blade, looking exactly like the first one, had appeared on the other side, turning it into a scythe with two blades at the top. The hilt remained black, but a white spearhead appeared atop it, right in between the blades.

As if Shi no Taizai hadn't been dangerous enough to begin with.

With their weapons drawn and readied, Rumia holding Tyrfing with her right hand, while Nanatsu held Shi no Taizai with both, the two combatants grinned at each other.

"Spellcard rules initiated! No spellcards!" the two of them shouted at the same moment. The reason that they declared no spellcards was that we had decided to train our physical abilities today, not our spellcards. We trusted each other with them. And besides, training a spellcard that did the same each time and should be used depending on the situation, was kind of hard to train.

And after I blinked only once, the two of them were already blade-to-blade. Nanatsu had the clear advantage due to possessing more physical strength, though, and a longer weapon. Pushing against the hilt instead of the blade, she caught Rumia off guard and slammed the wooden hilt into the side of Rumia's right leg. Rumia staggered shortly, everything that Nanatsu needed, and had no chance to avoid it as Nanatsu pulled Shi no Taizai back and grabbed her collar.

Rumia hit the barrier of darkness with her back first after Nanatsu had thrown her through the air and winced, sled down on it. Before she even got the chance to stand up, Nanatsu had moved as well and stood in front of her, reached for her hair.

The Angel of Darkness managed to avoid that attack, though, by leaning to the side. She rolled away from her opponent, landed on all fours and sled over the ground, unleashing a storm of black bullets. The slow Shinigami had no chance to avoid, and even though she tried to block most of the black bullets, they did hit her, making her wince in pain. Because Rumia had had no time to aim, though, most of the bullets missed her.

Rushing towards the Angel of Death, Nanatsu rose her scythe and held it to her right, dragged it behind as she aimed.

As she reached Rumia and swung the scythe and the height of Rumia's head, something that wouldn't be dangerous or even lethal due to the fact that the spellcard rules were active, she tried to decapitate the other woman. Rumia, however, ducked in the last moment and swung her free hand after balling it into a fist.

She hit her goal, Nanatsu winced and doubled over as all air was forced out of her, and quickly rose, both of her hands around the Shinigami's waist, Tyrfing dangling on it's chains.

Rumia's attempt at a suplex failed, though, when Nanatsu, thrown over the Angel of Death's shoulder, elbowed Rumia in the back and pushed off her shoulder.

With Rumia still paralyzed from the attack, Nanatsu threw Shi no Taizai up into the air, the magic chains growing in length as the scythe flew higher and higher, and moved forward in another punch. The uppercut was well placed and knocked Rumia up into the air.

The Shinigami followed her, pulled on the chain attached to her back and the hilt of Shi no Taizai, and caught the legendary blade anew with both hands. Rumia gasped as she saw how the scythe went ablaze and crossed her arms in front of her chest to guard herself, just as the burning scythe came down on her and pushed her out of the air and into the ground, creating a large crater.

Nanatsu landed aside that crater with a triumphant smirk, but did not expect Rumia to recover in a matter of seconds, the pain just adding to her excitement. Nanatsu twisted the scythe in her grip and managed to block Tyrfing as it came down on her, but was not prepared for Rumia's free hand to grab her right wrist, twisting it slightly. Still enough for her grip to loosen.

Rumia turned her hand, managed to grab the scythe just below the hilt, and tried to pull it out of Nanatsu's hands. This attempt was rewarded with a backhand slap from the Shinigami, though, which caused her to fall backwards as she held her face.

Nanatsu regained her hold on her scythe and she twirled on the spot, extending the hilt as she spun. The hilt knocked Rumia's feet away and she fell onto her rear, but as she fell, she threw Tyrfing towards Nanatsu. Even though it did miss Nanatsu, it wrapped around her neck.

Before Nanatsu even got the slightest chance of freeing herself, Rumia pulled on the chain and the Shinigami fell over, landed right aside Rumia on the dirt. The Angel of Death smirked nastily, rose her right leg and slammed it down on Nanatsu's back.

Upon the impact, the Shinigami cried out in pain and glared at the other woman. She rolled on top of her as soon as she regained control of her movements, pinned her down with a smirk that matched Rumia's.

"Not bad. You got me there." hissed the Angel of Death, even though it sounded amused.

"Same goes for you." panted Nanatsu in reply.

"I don't know about you, but this position is... promising." breathed Rumia to the Shinigami, who just nodded due to exhaustion.

"Oh god, here they go again." groaned Yajû to my right and facepalmed. And true to her word, Nanatsu leaned down and caught the Angel of Death's lips in a kiss. I rolled my eyes at this and chuckled. That was so them, flirting even in the middle of a battle.

Well, Rumia knew how to use this to her advantage, though.

Lifting her leg, Rumia placed a swift kick into the Shinigami's stomach, throwing off her. The Shinigami impacted with the ground near Nanatsu, hissed out as all air was forced out of her lungs for yet another time, and Rumia began to laugh sinisterly. And as the Angel of Death stood up, Nanatsu remained on the ground, wincing in pain.

"Sorry, 'natsu, but the thought of a fight thrills me more than a kiss right now." snickered Rumia as she rose from the ground and stepped over to the Shinigami. Extending a hand to help her up, Rumia shook her head in amusement.

And as Nanatsu grabbed her hand, the fight was turned around again. It wasn't quite as over as I had thought.

Nanatsu pulled Rumia towards her, placed her feet against the stomach of the Angel of Death and threw her over her head into the barrier. Rumia winced as she impacted with the barrier of darkness anew.

The Shinigami chuckled sinisterly as she got up and grabbed Shi no Taizai again.

But then, as she took the first step towards Rumia, her legs gave in and she fell onto her knees, groaned as she leaned her weight onto Shi no Taizai.

"That impact was too much...!" she hissed to herself, just as Rumia approached her again. In the end, Nanatsu was not always as pain resistant as Rumia and I were, both of us absorbing the pain in order to feel even more excitement. Nanatsu was not as insane as us when it came to that, I guess.

"Guess I win." chuckled Rumia and shook her head in amusement.

"Guess so... I give up. My back hurts like hell." sighed Nanatsu, even though amused as well. I rolled my eyes again at that. The Angel of Death helped the Shinigami up, but this time, Nanatsu didn't try a thing.

The fight was over.

And I was up next.

_~ Music end ~_

* * *

"Go Dad!" I heard Yume cheer and rolled my eyes. Sending a glance towards her and Yajû, I found the two of them standing aside Nanatsu, waiting for the fight to begin.

"Give our daughters a little show, will ya?" smirked Rumia as she summoned Tyrfing anew, "Show them the powers of the walking enigma that defeated Mima!"

I nodded a bit and moved into a fighting stance. I was going bare fists against Rumia with Tyrfing, and even though she had offered to fight with her bare fists as well, I had refused and had told her to use Tyrfing. After all, those who wielded weapons, like Kanako with her onbashira and Utsuho with her control rod, would use them, no matter if I had a weapon or not.

"I'm prepared. Ready, Rumia?" I called out to the Angel of Death and she nodded, her lips curling up into the excited, nasty smirk again.

"You know that I'm always ready for a dance, mein Todestrieb. A dance until the death." (1) was the reply from the Angel of Death.

"I'm ready to dance as well." I replied and set my fists ablaze with emerald energy.

"For the first time in twenty years, the king and his queen shall dance again! And this is going to be just the kind of dance that I love, I can feel it!"

_~ They're dancing again! Music cue: Rumia's II-NM Themesong: Alex C. feat. Yasmin K. - Angel of Darkness ~_

"Here we go!" exclaimed the Fallen Angel, pointed Tyrfing at me and summoned an orb of darkness in her left hand.

"Spellcard rules initiated! No spellcards!" I shouted. Rumia, however, had a different idea.

"Spellcard rules initiated! One spellcard!" she called over my voice. Almost immediately, a single spellcard materialized itself in my right hand. It was just the outline of it, not a distinct one, and just a sign that Rumia's request had been listened upon rather than mine. This battle had one spellcard allowed.

Feeling my reflexes kicking in, I backflipped the moment that Rumia jumped at me and managed to avoid Tyrfing's blade that way. Rumia pulled the blade up again, forcing me to sidestep it, but as I did, I grabbed her arm and twisted it, holding Tyrfing out of my reach.

"What the hell, Rumia?! I thought that we agreed on no spellcards!" I hissed into the ear of the Angel of Death. She began to chuckle to herself, sent a mad glance my way.

"What is wrong with you? Don't you feel the excitement? The thrill? A simple word changed the entire fight, forcing us to adjust to it, but that is what makes it exciting, right? Right?!" laughed Rumia, her madness coming through.

And I couldn't help but chuckle. Be as mad as she wants... I kind of loved that part of her as well. Because she caused this thrill.

"Well, I guess so." I admitted, glancing over to Nanatsu and our daughters, all of them frowning at us.

"Not like Kanako would stick with the rules, right? If we are to fight her, you can't expect her to stick to the rules... After all, when it comes to you, she'll do anything to defeat you... Oh, and by the way..." chuckled the Fallen Angel with a glance over her right shoulder, "You let your guard down. Suicide Bullet 'Kaibutsu'!"

I turned my attention back to her and gasped as I noticed it, but was unable to avoid her next attack. She rose her left hand to her left cheek, holding the black gun she had just summoned to it as she pulled the trigger.

Pain shot through my entire skull as a black bullet burst forth from the barrel and hit me right in between the eyes. I screamed out and felt all of my muscles numb, black replacing my vision for a moment as the dark energy that was unleashed as the bullet exploded upon touching my skin enveloped my head.

As the dark energy faded and allowed me to see again, I found Rumia standing a few feet away from me with a self-pleased smirk. She had Tyrfing leaned onto her right shoulder and was twirling the black gun she had summoned around her left index finger in a cocky way.

I let out a hiss as my gaze fell upon the weapon that Rumia was holding. It replaced the old revolver that had been part of her "Weapon Sign 'Suicide Bullet'" spellcard, the revolver that I had accidentally destroyed... Or rather, Insanity had. The loss of the revolver had rendered the spellcard useless, but now it was replaced by this new spellcard... One that I found even more dangerous than the old one.

Using a black gun as a medium, a slightly customized black Beretta 92 FS, Rumia had developed this new spellcard to replace the old one. Much like the revolver that she had used as a medium for her old spellcard, the Beretta 92 FS wasn't working like a human would use it. Not exactly, at least.

Rumia infused each bullet fired by the weapon with dark energy, turning them into slightly explosive ammo that hurt like hell. It was not meant to be lethal, and actually was just a medium that allowed Rumia to concentrate on Tyrfing rather than creating bullets on her own. She just had to constantly infuse the Beretta, which she had named "Kaibutsu" (2), with dark energy... Pulling the trigger did the rest.

Unlike the revolver from back then, which Rumia had always used separate from Tyrfing, Rumia always used Tyrfing and Kaibutsu at the same time. One should guess that her movements were clumsy because of the constant change between close range with her right hand and the gun with her left hand, but her ability to adjust to changes showed itself again, allowing her to use both at the same time.

However, opposed to the revolver from back then, Kaibutsu did have one flaw... It could run out of ammo. While the revolver had used nothing more than darkness energy, Kaibutsu could not do the same thing, as Rumia couldn't concentrate on it while also concentrating on Tyrfing. Hence the reason for the need of ammo, allowing her to just channel darkness into the Beretta rather than concentrating on it.

"Kaibutsu... So that was what you planned when you declared one spellcard for this battle. I should've know..." I hissed as I finally tore my attention away from the black gun and looked Rumia into the eyes. She was looking back at me, the self-pleased smirk still on her lips.

"Yup." was all she said before she threw herself at me again.

Another backflip and a sidestep and Tyrfing missed me twice. Clenching my hands once again, I held them much like claws and allowed myself to smirk in confidence. Rumia was in for a surprise. They didn't know, of course, that I never had really stopped to train over the years.

"Here's a surprise for you, princess!" I snickered under my breath and turned the situation around with just my right hand. Rumia let out a surprised gasp when the hand, still covered in emerald energy, caught a hold of Tyrfing just as it was about to impact with my face. The blunt hit from my hand threw the sword off course and it missed my head and stopped right over my left shoulder.

This gave me a window of a few seconds to counterattack, a chance that I did not miss. Swinging my right leg up, I aimed at her side. Rumia dodged this by dismissing Tyrfing and using the side of Kaibutsu to block my knee. She twirled on the spot, a fist missing my face by a mere inch as I leaned my head back, the next punch blocked by my forearm.

We pushed away from each other. I landed on all fours, used my emerald glowing hands to stop my slide. I frontflipped towards Rumia, catching her off guard by landing with my hands resting on her shoulders. Pushing off her, I catapulted myself high up into the air, turned and swung both my hands forwards, first the right, then the left, right before I landed on the roof of our old house.

The emerald energy shot towards Rumia in two orbs of emerald energy. The Fallen Angel hissed as she spotted the two orbs. She pointed Kaibutsu at the first one and shot a single bullet at it, and as the bullet hit, the orb of negative energy blew up, startling Rumia. She barely managed to lift her arm to guard her face as the second orb hit the ground a few yard to her left.

I smirked down at her, lit up my hands again and aimed. She let out a snarl, aimed Kaibutsu directly at me and pulled the trigger, but the next orb of negative energy got into the way of the single bullet and blew up as well. Rumia used the explosion of green and black to charge towards the house.

In perfect amusement, I watched as she jumped against the wall and ran up on it, then frontflipped over my head. The next orb of energy that I threw missed her and hit the barrier on the other side of the house, where it blew up and caused another green explosion.

"Hot stuff got an upgrade, I see?" snickered Rumia as she landed in a crouched position, Kaibutsu aimed at me.

"Not exactly." I shot back, aimed my right, still glowing hand at her. And at the same moment that she pulled the trigger anew, I lashed out with my glowing hand and caught the bullet in my hand, melting it.

Rumia chose that moment to roll away from me. She hid behind the chimney and I heard the familiar noise of her reloading her Beretta Kaibutsu. My hands lit up again as I pushed off the roof and charged towards her, ferocity flooding my mind.

My first fight in twenty years was more exciting that I had imagined it to be!

The glowing hands, even if they felt like claws to me, came in touch with the chimney. And cut right through it. Rumia gasped as she felt her cover, which she had rested her back against, being gone and heard it falling off the roof, but adjusted just as fast as ever. She leaned back over the hole that the missing chimney had left and aimed Kaibutsu at me. The smell of gunpowder filled the air, just before the next black bullet slipped past my defense and hit my chin from below, where it exploded.

I cringed and yelped out in pain as all of my muscles went numb for the second time during that fight. I stumbled backwards and waited for the dark energy to be gone, waited for my vision to return. When it did, I found Rumia charging at me with Tyrfing.

The legendary blade of bloodlust didn't harm me, though, because I blocked it with my right, still glowing hand. I twirled and tried to hit her side with my foot, but Rumia turned Tyrfing a bit and blocked my kick, then rested Kaibutsu's barrel against my forehead and pulled the trigger again.

I screamed out as the familiar effect hit me for a third time, and this time, Rumia didn't wait for me to recover. Her leg slammed into my stomach and I doubled over even before the darkness that obscured my vision was gone, but the glow around my hands didn't subside, allowing me a quick return of the favor by placing my hands on Rumia's shoulders and flipping over her.

She twirled, only to receive a kick that she had to block. I felt Kaibutsu's barrel against my ankle, hissed in both pain and shock as I felt and heard the gun being fired and lost my balance as the attack pushed my foot away. I slipped, fell over the edge of the roof and impacted with the ground just aside the severed chimney.

Seeing Rumia peer over the edge of the roof, I grinned inside and rested a hand against the chimney.

"Catch!" I shouted and threw the whole chimney at her, a move that surprised myself due to the weight of the chimney. Then again, I was an exalted Youkai known to be stronger than a human and even most other Youkai, but nowhere as strong as Nanatsu or Yuuka.

Rumia gasped and quickly pulled her head back, just as the chimney flew past her into the sky, then turned and fell down again.

The sound of the roof breaking as the chimney hit it wasn't exactly music in my ears, and Nanatsu's enraged scream from the side was enough to know that she would be pissed about me and Rumia destroying everything, but it was still enough to make me want to continue.

I pushed myself up, ignored Nanatsu's enraged screams and the excited gasps and cheers from my daughters, and jumped back on the roof. Rumia had already awaited me, blocked my swipe with the blunt side of Tyrfing, but was unable to stop the next one.

She cringed and hissed as my burning hand cut into her skin, even though it did not leave back any wounds or burns due to the spellcard rules. The Angel of Death was thrown off balance and stumbled, missed the edge of the hole and slipped. I didn't catch her, merely watched as she fell through the hole in the roof into the house and landed on our old bed, which was now demolished on one side due to the chimney having landed on it.

Laughing in excitement, I jumped after Rumia, 'claws' still burning in emerald flames. She rolled off the bed just before my burning hands cut through the mattress and sent feathers whirling into the air.

"I knew that you were a wild beast in bed!" mocked the Angel of Death and pointed Kaibutsu at me again, but the bullet missed me when I lunged at her. The small explosion behind me didn't even faze me, I merely swung my burning fists at Rumia again. She ducked under both of them, tried to get me with a kick, but I blocked it with a kick of my own.

I pushed myself into the air and threw negative energy at her. It wasn't the smartest thing to do as I should quickly find out. I underestimated the power of the explosion that was caused by the orb. Rumia managed to deflect it, but it still hit the ground aside her and blew up, sending both of us flying.

The next thing that my feet came in contact with was a small table, which gave in under the weight of me and the power of the impact. Rumia had used the momentum of the explosion to follow me, and when I backflipped off the table, she landed on it and broke it with Tyrfing.

She took cover behind the broken tabletop and I heard her reload, but was unable to counterattack her because I was landing by the door the very same moment that I heard her.

"Not bad, princess!" I called out and intensified the green flames around my hands, "Seems like I wasn't the only one who continued to train in secret, huh?"

Rumia's cruel laughter was the reply, just before she rolled out of her hiding spot and pulled the trigger anew. The door behind me groaned as a bullet went through it, followed by a green explosion at the foot of a dresser behind Rumia.

The Angel of Death gasped when she heard the dresser fall and rolled away, right before the dusty dresser hit the ground and broke. Rumia grabbed one of the pieces of the broken dresser and threw it at me, but I just broke through it with my burning hands, then jumped towards her.

I threw another orb of negative energy, Rumia backflipped away from the explosion that burnt a large hole into the carpet, and shot three more rounds my way, two of them missing me, the third impacting with my left shoulder and throwing me off course.

I hissed as I fell against another dresser, quickly took cover behind it and closed my eyes, waited for the pain to subside. This may not be a bullet wound, but still hurt like hell. After all, it shot black bullet, the Gensokyo-kind of bullets, not the human ones.

"Hiding, are we? Licking your wounds over there?" I heard Rumia mock. I opened my eyes and glared into the direction that I knew Rumia to be, took a last breath and flared my hands up again.

I jumped out of my hiding place with burning hands, jumped over the broken table and landed right in front of Rumia, another swipe already aimed at her midriff. She backflipped away, ducked behind the remains of the broken bed when I followed her, causing my next swipe to go over her head and hit the wall.

I heard Rumia gasp when my claw went through the wall like a hot knife through butter.

"The hell...?!" she roared when I turned around, still gaping in shock at the hole I had created in the wall.

"Don't worry about it... Usually, it's not that dangerous, I keep it low... Could cause minor burns in a lethal fight, but that's all. But because I know that the spellcard rules are active and that I can't kill you or anyone else with this, I thought 'why not go all out?' Drains my power like hell, but makes this so much more exciting!" I laughed and showed her my blazing hands again.

And before she got the chance, I threw another orb of the exploding energy to her feet. She screamed out as she was thrown into the air, tried to save herself by holding onto the bed, but was in my way again. I tackled into her, fists still blazing, and pushed her back into the dimly lit room.

She untangled from me and pushed away, landed on top of a nightstand. I turned and followed, jumped towards her in a flying kick, which she avoided by somersaulting underneath me. My foot hit the wall with enough force to leave a dent in it and my entire world shook for a second, before I pushed myself off the wall and charged at Rumia again.

This time, she wasn't able to defend herself, and when I tackled into her, I pushed her against the next wall. Only that the wall was a window.

We fell out of the window, the glass shattering on impact. We continued to wrestle in midair, and eventually it was me who took the impact with the ground, both shoulders letting out a sound that was kind of sick. Rumia pushed off me, pointed Tyrfing at my face and smirked in a self-pleased way. She swung the blade down, but I blocked it with the back of my burning fist and twirled on the spot in an attempt to kick her feet away. She had learned from the past, however, and jumped away.

She waited until I was on my feet again, continued to smirk cruelly, even though she was panting, exhaustion taking its toll on her. I got up myself and let the glow subside, panted as well, the excessive use of my powers and the attacks from Rumia exhausting me as well.

For the next two minutes, we just continued to stare each other down, both of us trying calm down enough to go at it again.

"Go full power."

"Excuse me?" I muttered at Rumia's request.

In return, she let out a soft chuckle and pointed down at my right hand. I followed her gaze down to my hand and clenched it into a fist, growled.

"No way." I huffed as I realized what she was referring to, "I tried that once... It is kind of uncontrollable without the restraint that the glove gives."

"Show me! You said it yourself: It's more exciting the more power you release." she snickered in a soft and yet evil tone. I rolled my eyes at that, couldn't deny though that I had said that just a few moments before.

**"Come on! She's right, ya know? If you don't do it, I will!"** laughed Insanity's voice in my head, but I shook my head... To deny that he had to do it.

"Fine. But you're going to explain IT to our daughters!" I hissed and rose my right hand, "Don't say I didn't warn you, though! This is going to be explosive."

The thumb of my left hand slipped under the glove, didn't brush against flesh or skin. I glanced down at my right hand as I slowly slipped off my black leather glove, revealed the burnt skin at my wrist that had molten down and sealed the stump. The smell of rotten flesh filled my nostrils for a second, even though the stump had stopped to rot twenty years ago. Sometimes, though, it still released the smell of rotting flesh like it had just rotten away. It had to be the bare bones.

It is kind of hard to understand, because the hand actually lacked it's flesh because it had burnt away... Actually, the bones had been revealed two times. The first time, I lost all flesh of my right hand after a bath in nuclear-charged magma together Utsuho... After copying her Yatagarasu's healing abilities, I had regenerated all flesh and skin completely.

But hours later, the flesh of my hand had started to rot away for some reason, and by the end of three hours, had completely rotten away up to the wrist, where it stopped, the melting skin closing the stump that was left of my hand. And the only reason that my bones didn't just fall off without the skin, flesh and muscles was that negative energy that was flowing through my bones kept them together. I had lost all ability to feel with that hand. I had hidden it. And now, revealed it for the first time in twenty years.

The moment that the glove was halfway off, green light burst forth as my bony hand came alive with green energy. When I finally had the glove completely off, both Yume and Yajû were gaping at the black bones that my right hand consisted off, green lightning flowing in between them.

I rose the hand, moved it experimentally, then clenched it to a fist and the emerald flames enclosed my hands again.

"You wanted it... Here you have it!" I bellowed and pointed my hand at Rumia, thrusted it forwards.

The emerald flame shot towards Rumia in a single, emerald-colored laser that exploded to her feet. Rumia gasped and jumped away, crossed her arms in front of her body to guard herself from the flying dirt and rubble.

The spot where my power had hit was now a large crater.

I didn't wait for Rumia to land. I closed the distance between us before she landed, extended my right arm and grabbed her ankle before her foot set down on the ground, She gasped when I pulled and swung her around, pointed Kaibutsu at me and pulled the trigger, but I ignored it as darkness enveloped my vision the moment that the bullet hit my forehead.

"Nice try, but it's not enough, princess!" I shouted and let go off her foot, didn't care into which direction she flew. My vision returned as the darkness left, and I found Rumia at the foot of a wall, an imprint in it.

She was on all fours, snarled and growled, panted as she rose her head and glared at me.

"Damn it... You became better... You didn't even use a spellcard... And you don't even have Alastor." snarled the Angel of Death, huffing and puffing.

"All you used that spellcard for was to call onto Kaibutsu. And regarding my strength... Well, not exactly. I just got used to my powers, I guess... And besides, this was your first fight in twenty years, no matter how often you trained. And..." I glanced towards the house and the damages it had received as I spoke, "You put up quite a fight."

Rumia snickered to herself as she finally pushed herself up.

"I admit defeat. You were better than me this time, hot stuff. But next time, I won't go down like this." laughed Rumia as she stepped over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Besides, that's the way it should be, right? You're the man in this family, you're supposed to defend us."

"I guess so, even though you and Nanatsu aren't exactly weak or anything. That aside... I'm not that powerful. I know I can now do quite a lot of damage..." I lit my bony hand up to clarify my point, "If anything, I am on one level with Mima. And you shouldn't forget that people like Kanako, Yukari or even Yuyuko have powers that are just as devastating as mine... And we don't know how strong they have gotten over the course of twenty years. So... My point is: I may seem powerful right now, but wait until you've seen what the others can do."

Rumia laughed and shook head.

"Still the same, aren't ya? But you are right... I bet especially Kanako pushed herself to her very limits after what happened last time... You know, the day that everyone went crazy about something. The day that she went crazy about you and tried to 'rape' you." commented my second wife.

She then stepped past me, vanished from my vision. At the same time, I heard another set of footsteps approach me.

"I believe you are fooling yourself, Chôzen, after what I have just seen. You said that you feel powerless without Alastor, that you miss him and that you can't fight without him... I hope you see my point. You just beat Rumia without Alastor." spoke Nanatsu as she stepped past me, Shi no Taizai still on her back.

She took a few more steps away from me, brought distance between us before she turned around and pulled Shi no Taizai in a swift movement and twirled it once, turning it into the double-bladed appearance. I watched this in silence, but put my glove back on at the same time. I wouldn't get as easily exhausted with it on, as it kept the negative energy in my exposed hand calm, and yet unstable. After all, negative energy was supposed to be unstable.

"Shall we?"

_~ Rumia's theme end ~_

* * *

_~ Another sparring! Music cue: Nanatsu's II-NM Themesong: Nana Mizuki - Eternal Blaze ~_

"Spellcard rules initialized! No spellcards!"

The moment that I pushed myself off the ground and lit my hands again, Nanatsu shifted into a defensive stance and began to twirl Shi no Taizai. The scythe was moving too fast for me to get past it, thus forced me to land in front of her.

For some odd reason, I did that one mistake for the second time that day, a proof that I had yet to get used to fight with blazing fists rather than a sword... I threw the explosive, negative energy right at Nanatsu, despite standing close to her.

Unlike with Rumia, though, the flame exploded upon coming in touch with the twirling scythe. And all of it's explosive energy was released only into my direction, the moving scythe shielding Nanatsu from any harm.

Thrown back by the sheer power of the explosion, I found myself impacting with the wall of the house, pain shooting through my back for the second time.

"Damn...!" was all that I managed to growl the moment that I landed in a crouched position in front of the wall, because I had to push myself up onto my two feet again, Nanatsu coming towards me with her scythe raised and ready for a dangerous swipe.

She aimed at my neck, allowing me to dodge the attack by ducking, but when I went for her legs, she just turned the scythe around so that the blades were at the lower end, and forced me to avoid her upwards swipe rather than that.

My escape was cut short when my back hit the wall of the house, which was behind me, blocking my escape. Nanatsu raised Shi no Taizai and swung it down, one blade aimed at my head. I leaned my head to the right to avoid, causing the blade to hit the wall, cutting into it. This left Nanatsu without a chance to guard herself, and my kick connected with her stomach, sending her falling backwards.

Shi no Taizai still stuck in the wall when I pushed myself off it and charged at the now unarmed Nanatsu, ready to land a blow on her right shoulder. She sidestepped, though, and instead grabbed my left wrist. Almost effortlessly, she picked me up and threw me down onto the ground, making me wince at the hard impact that whirled up dust and left back an imprint of me in the dry dirt.

I bounced off the ground and turned in midair, managed to land on all fours. Nanatsu was already awaiting me, though, grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me into the air again, this time in a German Suplex that actually caused me to get dizzy for a moment.

Nonetheless did I managed to stumble away from her to avoid any further attacks.

I regained control of my movements the moment that she went to retrieve Shi no Taizai, and a quick bolt of emerald flames prevented her from reaching the scythe.

"Oh no, you don't!" I huffed as I lowered my hands again and narrowed my eyes at her. She rose an eyebrow at me, then let out an amused huff.

I had to raise a shield of emerald flames in front of me when she suddenly threw a hellfire flame into my direction, a flame that exploded violently as it hit my shield and pushed me back a few good yards.

_"Typically Nanatsu... All about pure power."_

I backflipped away from her to get some space to prepare another attack, but had to defend myself again when Nanatsu followed me with two jumps. She wasn't anywhere as fast as Rumia, and yet way more dangerous when it came to close range attacks, simply because of her raw strength.

Deflecting her punch with the back of my gloved hand, I used the momentum to twirl on the spot and kick her feet away. She fell onto her back and I stepped over her with a smug grin, only to have it wiped off my face when she set her arms ablaze in the dark red flames of the hellfire.

The heat was too intense for me to stand it, and I was forced to move away from her, even though I knew that Nanatsu wouldn't allow me to get away. I should be right, a red circle appeared on the ground before me, followed by a flame pillar rising into the heaven, but I simply danced around it and continued to get distance between us.

My escape ended, though, when Nanatsu called out to me.

"Wrong way, Chô!"

Something flew past me and hit the barrier of darkness, splintered into thousand parts as it did. Twirling around, a blazing fist was all that saved me from the next object, and even that didn't stop the full impact of the billet of wood that Nanatsu had thrown at me.

I hissed as I noticed the neatly stacked billets of wood aside her, the original purpose of it to keep the house warm during another cold winter in Gensokyo. Say what you want, but Nanatsu never failed to find another use for her enormous strength, even if it was just to turn billets of wood into dangerous projectiles.

She let out a small but sinister giggle as she picked up the next billet of wood, but never managed to throw it, an emerald flame knocking it out of her hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I taunted as I threw myself at her.

Nanatsu let out an annoyed huff, but picked up the next billet of wood. I put even more speed into my movements, desperate to reach her before she got the chance to throw it.

Well...

The fight ended there.

The moment that I stood in front of her, ready to deliver the punch that was supposed to stop her, she just swung the billet down on my forehead with enough power to knock me chin-first into the dirt to her feet.

_~ Nanatsu's theme ends ~_

"Ow..." I groaned uneasily, unable to move.

_"Just how did that blow not rip my head off my shoulders?!"_

"Looks like I win." cheered Nanatsu as she leaned down in front of me and patted my head, even if only to mock me. I glanced up and even tried to get up, but the headache that I now had just made me fall onto my back the moment that I was sitting upright.

"I think you went a little too far, 'natsu. But damn, that was a blow. A short fight, but the most hilarious end to a fight I've seen in a while." sniggered a very certain blonde as she approached us, followed by my two daughters.

"Not funny, Rumia." I snarled and closed my eyes, somehow managed to rub the sore spot on my head.

"I don't know, I thought it looked pretty funny. 'natsu, you're a bomb." whistled Rumia as she examined my swollen forehead.

"More like a tank that just rolled over me." I commented, but left it at that, each movement hurting like hell.

"Serves you right. You were too cocky." countered Nanatsu just as she pulled Shi no Taizai out of the wall, inspected the blade of the double-sided scythe, then the hole in the wall. At the same time, Rumia leaned forwards and offered her hand to me.

"Come on, get up." chuckled the Angel of Death. She still seemed exhausted, wasn't panting but still breathing harder than before, but at least had recovered somewhat.

"No way... Let me stay here and die... I think my brain just turned liquid through Nanatsu's punch." was all that I managed to groan before I closed my eyes and rested in the grass.

"Fine with me. But make some space there, hot stuff."

With these words, Rumia sat down next to me, her melodic laughter echoing in my ears, easing my pain enough to allow a small smile to spread over my face.

"By the way, hot stuff... You sure are agile. Suits you, you know?" commented the Angel of Death and gently poked me in the side, "But you move like a girl. Geez, did you learn to move like that from Mokou or what? Or from a cheerleader?"

"Shut up, Rumia." I chuckled and shook my head, put a hand around her waist and pulled her closer, no matter how much it hurt.

"I don't know what you two smile about..." huffed Nanatsu in anger as she approached us. Seeing her stern expression, it was quite obvious that she was pissed. And I knew what about as well... Looking past her at the house, it wasn't really that hard to figure out. Missing chimney, hole in the roof, shards of glass and a hole in a wall.

"Just look what you two did! You went all overboard again and destroyed your surroundings... Again! Just what is it with you two? Can't you just control yourselves for once and hold back? Pah!" grumbled the Shingiami as she flopped down aside us, immediately crossing her arms and legs, Shi no Taizai horizontally on her back.

"Ah, come on, Nana, what's the problem? Nothing that we can't fix with..." I began, but was interrupted when the Shinigami growled loudly and turned into my direction with a look that could kill.

"You two are so going to sleep on the couch tonight! No snuggling with me tonight." huffed the Shinigami, crossed her arms again, and turned away. Exchanging an amused glance with Rumia, the two of us sweatdropped. Was this supposed to be a punishment for us or for her? She was, after all, the one who snuggled the most.

"That. Was just. Awesome." exclaimed Yajû as she reached us, "Dad, I don't know how you're doing it, but you just got a lot cooler. I mean... You got a damn skeleton hand! Just how cool is that?!" Her half-sister didn't seem to entirely share that view, but was still looking at us in awe.

"I don't understand... How?" asked Yume, her gaze remaining on my gloved hand. I rolled my eyes at this, but then glared at Rumia.

"You said you'll explain it. And while you do..." I yawned and closed my eyes, "I'll take a good, long nap."

I heard Rumia groan, something that amused me quite a lot, but let sleep eventually take me over. I had overused my abilities, exhausting me greatly. Yes, I had truly overdone it. I had yet to get used to fighting with my blazing fists rather than a sword and had underestimated how much power it drained to keep my fists ablaze.

We hadn't lost our strength. We weren't exactly in shape, but it was not like a little training wasn't going to fix this. In fact, I was pretty optimistic about this. If we kept on training and would regain our old stamina again, we had a good chance to at least not embarrass ourselves at the tournament.

But we had to continue training for the rest of the month, that for sure.

After Rumia had explained everything to our daughters, they woke me up and we returned to the outside world. I spent the rest of the day taking a good nap, something I deserved in my eyes. The next day would be just as exhausting, as would the remaining weeks be until Yukari would come to pick us up. We had to train. And we would train.

Ironically, Nanatsu did carry out her threat and forced me and Rumia to sleep on the couch that night, angry at us for destroying the old house. But, as Rumia and I had both silently expected, it wasn't as much of a punishment to us than it was to Nanatsu.

In the middle of the night, she sneaked into the living room, crawled under the covers and snuggled in between me and Rumia.

So much for that.

* * *

_8 Days until the events in the godforsaken land..._

"You sure you got everything?" I called out to my wilder daughter. She looked up at me and frowned, seemed to think about it for a while, and then shrugged.

"I think I've got everything. But geez, don't make such a fuss, Dad. Aunt Yukari won't come to pick us up until tomorrow." shot Yajû back and stretched her back a little, a smug grin on her lips. Even though she only met Yukari once, and only for a brief moment, Yajû had begun to call her 'aunt Yukari', something that silently amused me. I'd love to see the face that Yukari would make once she heard it.

"Yeah, whatever." I huffed in annoyance. It was that moment that something wet and hard moved over my neck and I cringed madly, twirled around and glared at Yajû's mother in annoyance.

"Rumia...! I told you to stop that!" I snarled as I glared at the pierced tongue of the Angel of Death.

"Too much fun, sorry." laughed Rumia and stepped past me, turning her attention to her daughter. As she passed me, Rumia gently and playfully hit my right shoulder, only to earn a gasp of pain from me. She stopped as I cringed and immediately put a hand onto the spot she had just hit, and she let out a silent apology.

"Watch it..." I hissed as I rubbed the sore spot. About two weeks after the first training fights, we had begun to fight Battle Royale rather than one versus one. During those, I had received a pretty nasty hit from Nanatsu that had originally been aimed at Rumia. Because we had not used the spellcard rules for that fight, I got a pretty nasty bruise from the hit, a bruise that hurt even now, one week later.

Three weeks had passed since Yukari had appeared in our kitchen. Three weeks of as good as nothing but training. And in less than 24 hours, Yukari would come to pick us up and we'd return to Gensokyo. The tournament would start tomorrow. Things were about to get exciting.

"I have everything prepared." murmured Yume as she entered the room, "I'm ready for the departure tomorrow."

I confirmed this with a nod, watched as the two half-sisters moved over to the couch and sat down on it. Turning back to Rumia, I watched as she stared out of the window. It was raining that day, the dark clouds unleashing one hell of a storm. Not that any of us cared, though.

In less than twenty four hours, we'd be home again for the first time in twenty years. And I wasn't the only one excited to be back. Nanatsu was excited, but kept calm about it. Rumia, on the other hand, showed how eager she was, over and over bringing the tournament up and how she was waiting for the first real fight. And our daughters weren't exactly less excited...

"So... We're gonna move tomorrow?" asked Yajû as she leaned back and relaxed, even though she kept one of her red eyes open and focused on me and Rumia. I confirmed this with a nod, and Yajû nodded as well.

"Well, I guess that's more than fine with me. I'd really like to see that land that you talked so much of. Sounded like it's fun there." smirked Yajû, then glanced at her sister, "What about you? It sounds thrilling, doesn't it?"

"I guess so. Mom and Dad told me many interesting things, and so did Rumia... There are so many places I'd like to see, people I'd like to meet..." replied Yume, even though she was blushing lightly due having everyone's attention.

"Ha! You're blushing again!" exclaimed Yajû in her usual, bold way and pointed at her half-sister, which growled under her breath in return.

"I b-blush easily..." came Yume's reply and she shrunk deeper into the couch, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Yajû, stop teasing your sister." I lectured for what felt like the thousandth time. The young blonde grinned towards me, really reminding me of her mother with the way her eyes glowed and the smug grin on her lips. I could see why the Flame-Soul had mistaken her for her mother Rumia.

Apropos Flame-Soul... The little bastard had refused to stay in the attic, so I had ended up with him orbiting my head again, like he had used to twenty years ago. And for some reason, I didn't mind. I actually enjoyed hearing his annoying voice again. I felt just like I was part of Gensokyo again with him being back.

I knew that Insanity was back as well. I knew he was lurking in the back of my mind, waiting and watching. Just like he used to back then.

Everything was feeling just like back then. And I loved the feeling.

* * *

_Yes, looking back, I had loved the idea of going back to Gensokyo. I wanted to see everyone again; Mokou, Mima, Remilia and Flan, Satori and Koishi, heck, even Kanako!_

_However, had I only known what my return to Gensokyo would cause... Had I only known what damage I put myself and everyone else in... One year later and nothing would've happened. Heck, even one week later would've saved us all!_

_But then again, if I hadn't returned then, I wouldn't have solved one of the greatest and darkest riddles of my life. But to solve it, I had to lose everything._

_I wish I had known this back then, but..._

_It only takes one fucked up day to change a man. Only one bad day and the sanest man is reduced to lunacy. I had such a day. I don't remember how it really happened, at least I didn't want to... _

_But I know how it happened, even if I deny it._

My return threw Gensokyo into chaos, disorder and danger, and I was responsible for it all.

_Murphys's law says that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong._

_And everything went wrong as the tournament continued on. It only took one week to turn my entire world around. And it only took one day for me to lose everything._

_In the glimpse of a moment, everything went wrong._

_Going back to the place you abandoned is never a good idea._

_7 days remaining until the events in the godforsaken land..._

* * *

(1) "Mein Todestrieb" is German and translates to "My death drive" or "My death wish" and refers to something that Rumia had said during I-Negative Bullet. Not only is it a reference to her spellcard "Ende mein Leiden 'Todestrieb'!" (End my suffering 'Death Drive'!), but also, she had said that her very personal death wish was to dance until the death with Insanity/Chôzen. In other words, she is saying that Chôzen is her very death drive.

(2) "Kaibutsu", the name of Rumia's Beretta 92 FS, means "Wraith".

* * *

_Lot'sa fighting this time, huh? Well, while this was important and interesting for the story, it's primary purpose was to show off how Chôzen adjusted to the loss of Alastor and to show how Rumia's fighting style had changed from sword to sword and gun. Nanatsu's fighting style changed a little as well, but then again, I never really defined it. Out of the three, Nanatsu has fought the least battles, the major ones being against Kanako together with Chôzen, and against Yuuka with Rumia._

_Also, I know that I have barely focused on the two half-sisters Yume and Yajû until now, but more will be revealed about them as time comes._

_And, I guess here is the surprise: Everything became the way you know it from the first chapter in just one week. 7 days are left until the point where the first chapter picks up, and everything seems fine until now. _

_Next chapter, Chôzen and his family will return to Gensokyo. Things will slow down then and we'll do less leaps in time. Because, now that the basis for this all is set, we can start the "real story", so to speak. One last chapter and the prologue arc is over. And then, the tournament will start. The tournament in which everything goes wrong. The tournament with which everything will start._

_You don't have the slightest idea how excited I am for it! To be quite honest, I've been preparing ideas for this tournament since the Ten Desires Arc of I-Negative Bullet. I already have prepared the teams, have prepared the outcome, have prepared the jokes and fights... And some more things._

_But before that: The return to Gensokyo!_

_Next time on II-Negative Mind: Our homecoming! _

_I'll see you next time, dear readers!_

This is SorrowfulReincarnation and... So long!~


	4. Arc I - Ch IV Our homecoming

_Yo! I'm back, even though three days late. And I'm sorry for that. Things got in the way. Headache, Convention, me falling asleep... Heh. The usual._

_So, anyways... Since there have been no reviews last time, we skip over review time *confetti starts crying* and move on to the story. The only thing that I'd like to say is that at the end of this chapter, I added two short descriptions of two NBP Spin-offs that I have in mind but am unsure whether or not to write during my summer holidays. It's still a while until then, but a poll takes it time, right? So please vote if you feel like it. Descriptions of the spin-offs below, and poll is on my profile. Please and thank you~_

_Since there is nothing else to say here, I think (everything else is on my profile page, towards the end), I'll guess we just start the chapter, alright?_

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Yume Gekido and Yajû Gekido-Shisô do belong to me, as for I have created them._

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Our homecoming**_

_7 Days until the event in the godforsaken land..._

The ringing of an alarm-clock ripped through my peaceful dream, kicked my sleep in the ass and forced me to open my eyes. Damn thing wanted my attention... I can't say that I am too fond of human technology, but ever so often I had to admit that it was pretty useful.

I groaned as I untangled my limbs from Nanatsu's, huffed when I pushed Rumia off me, and turned around to reach for the alarm-clock, my intention to make that thing shut up somehow. However, a pale hand covered in a white glove was quicker than me and the thing turned off.

"Thank you, Yukari..." I muttered and turned away, closing my eyes to drift off into sleep again... Only to realize who I had spoken to.

I twirled around again and stared with wide eyes at the Sukima that sat on the edge of the bed and smirked widely.

"You`re late. Your daughters are already waiting." sniggered the Sukima no Youkai and rose from her position, "Everything is ready for your departure. We will have to make a short stop at a familiar place, though... Shikieiki would like to see you before you return to Gensokyo completely."

"Damn it, Yukari..." I growled and moved a hand through my hair. I still felt sleepy, and even though I had slept well, exhausted.

"I hear that a lot recently." chuckled the Sukima and rose from the bed, the alarm-clock resting in her right hand. I watched silently as she played with the alarm-clock, threw it into the air and caught it again.

"Gee, I wonder why." I commented and closed my eyes again, rested them just for a short moment. Okay, so maybe I was trying to fall asleep again. But that attempt was cut short when something hard and metallic impacted with my forehead and sent a wave of pain through my entire body.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I think I forgot to catch it again." came Yukari's innocent reply to my scream of pain. In response, I picked up the alarm-clock she had just thrown at me, let out a loud snarl and threw it at her. But she merely opened a gap, and the thing hit my forehead for the second time.

"Stop moving so much, Chô..." groaned Rumia and pulled the blanket higher. She opened one eye for a second, spotted her half-sister Yukari aside the bed, and let out a loud groan as she pulled the pillow over her head.

"For the love of... Damn it, Yukari..."

"See?" huffed Yukari and pouted, "Even my own sister says that! What is it with people cursing my name?"

"Yeah... Gee, I wonder why." came Rumia's muffled comment, unknowingly repeating my words from just a few moments earlier. Yukari let this one slip, however, merely rose an eyebrow at the Angel of Death and let out a low huff.

"Stop annoying us and get out... I'm just in my boxers." I groaned and waved towards the Sukima no Youkai. Yukari, however, remained as playful as ever and just shook her head in amusement.

"Not the first time that I'd see you in nothing more than boxers, hunk." snorted the blonde woman aside the bed in amusement, causing me to groan and open my eyes yet another time.

Yukari was wearing the clothes I was more used to; her Chinese dress and her mob cap. She had her folding fan in one hand, waved it a little, tapped it against her waist as she continued to smirk down at me.

"Really funny, gap hag." I huffed and sat up, ignored it as the blanket fell and revealed my bare chest. Sliding the gloved hand through my hair, I rested my eyes for a last time, then glanced towards Yukari.

"No, seriously, get the hell out before I blast you out." I threatened, and this time, Yukari did move, but not without her characteristic laughter and the wave of her folding fan. I waited until she had left the room, then gently poked Nanatsu in the back and pulled the pillow out of Rumia's hands, even though the later thing was quite the effort with Rumia clinging onto that thing.

"Get up. It's time... And we have to pay Shikieiki a visit apparently." I spoke as I climbed over Rumia, only to miss the edge of the bed and fall out of it, hitting the ground with my face first.

"Ugh... Why can't she just come visit us if it's so important...?" groaned Rumia as she sat up and picked up the alarm-clock, which had ended up by her waist after bouncing off my forehead. She proceeded to place it on the nightstand, only to miss it when she almost fell asleep, causing the thing to bounce off the edge and fall onto my head for the third time.

Okay, so I guess by now it's quite obvious that neither of us is an early riser, nor someone who wakes up and is immediately ready to process and handle everything... In other words: All of us were tired. Exhausted. Ready to fall asleep again. In a matter of seconds.

"Thanks, Rumia." I snorted as I sat up, grabbed the damn alarm-clock and almost crushed it in my hand, only to let out a huff of annoyance and stand up. With the alarm-clock in hand, I walked over to the door and yanked it open. Yukari, standing in the corridor with Yajû and Yume, immediately turned to us, a snarky comment already on her lips... She never got the chance to annoy me with it, the alarm-clock digging into her face before she even saw it coming.

I slammed the door close and turned back into the room, rolled my shoulders and my neck.

"Yep, now I'm good and ready to start the day." I announced and watched as Nanatsu sled out of the bed, followed by Rumia climbing out of it as well, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm not. I'd say we kick my sister out and I continue my beauty sleep. Let's tell her we go this evening." snarled the Angel of Death, but neither I, nor Nanatsu commented that and instead, the three of us continued to dress.

When I opened the door again, this time fully clothed, I found myself face-to-face with Yukari. Or at least the place her face used to be. Instead, the alarm-clock had dug into it and stuck there, giving Yukari a funny and yet strange appearance. I poked the alarm-clock and it immediately fell out of her face and hit the ground, finally breaking into pieces.

Yukari, standing before me, had a deep dent in her face, her face pushed into her head.

"My face just went anime, didn't it?" spoke Yukari with a muffled voice, and I merely rolled my eyes at her.

"Stop meddling with logic, Yukari, and start making sense for once. And of course, make yourself useful. Everything that needs to be transported to Gensokyo is downstairs in the living room." I snorted and pushed her out of the way.

"Morning Yajû, Yume." I greeted my two daughters, and the two of them nodded quickly. Both were already fully dressed and ready to go.

While Yajû had merely thrown on a dark green tank top and denim shorts, Yume went for a more gothic lolita-like appearance today with a black dress reaching down to her knees, blue-and-black stripped stockings and a black plush cat attached to a white belt around her waist.

"Ready to go?" asked Nanatsu as she stepped past me and rubbed her eyes.

"No breakfast? Gee, best day ever." snorted Yajû in sarcasm and placed her hands on her waist. Not only I rolled my eyes at that, but it was eventually Yukari that replied.

"At Higan. Shikieiki invited you." spoke the Sukima as she floated over to us on a gap, her face still pushed into her head. Nanatsu sent her an annoyed glance, apparently upset about being woken up... And the last bit of sleep left her face as a shocked expression appeared on her face. Yep, Yukari's face had scared her.

"Who's this... 'Shikieiki'?" asked Yume quietly, acting rather shy due to the presence of someone who was something like a stranger to her.

"Shikieiki Yamaxanadu is the Yama of Gensokyo. Rumia and I work for her; Rumia as an Angel of Death and I as a Shinigami. I told you a few times... You two are eventually going to work for her as well, you know?" explained Nanatsu, and it seemed to click in both Yume's and Yajû's heads.

"Oh! Enma-sama!" the two of them exclaimed and slapped their foreheads. I snorted and rolled my eyes. Yeah, that made sense. Note the sarcasm. Just what the hell was going on today?

"Anyways... I'll deliver your stuff to your old house in Gensokyo. The six of us have an appointment with Shikieiki." smiled Yukari... And with a sudden noise, her face returned to it's original shape, save for the broken nose. I sweatdropped at that sight.

"Follow me, please." spoke the Sukima as she turned around and waved her hand once, creating a gap in midair. She was the first one to step through, leaving me with my family. Sharing a short glance with each of them, it was eventually Nanatsu that followed Yukari first, followed by Rumia, then Yajû and finally Yume.

I, on the other hand, remained to stand there and looked at the gap, watched it intently.

One step through it and I'd be in Higan... And technically, back in Gensokyo. One step in and I'd turn my back on this world again and would return to Gensokyo. To step through was to decide my fate... But the decision was already made.

I would've enjoyed this moment a lot more, but no matter how short that moment lasted, I savored every moment of it as I stepped towards the gap, put a hand inside and smiled as I felt the cool air of the world that Yukari controlled.

Gensokyo, just one visit to Shikieiki at Higan and we'd be together again.

I stepped inside the gap and felt the cold air envelop me.

Gensokyo, here I come.

* * *

With the second step, though, I was already out of Yukari's world, left the cold air of it behind, replaced it with the even colder air of Higan. Looking around, I found that we were standing in front of the large, wooden double doors to the courtroom of Higan, which Shikieiki spent most of her time in.

"Where are we?" muttered Yume as she looked around, took in the details of the large corridors of Higan with it's shining, white walls and the marble floor.

"Higan. This is where the souls of the deceased are judged by Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, the Yama of Gensokyo." called out another voice, and we all turned into the direction that it came from. Rounding the corner was a woman that looked awfully familiar, but then again different. She had red eyes, short pinkish red hair and wore a white dress with a blue vest overtop and had an obi belt with a large coin tied in the center. Strapped onto her back was a large silver scythe with a wisp-like bending on the end, but it wasn't as tall as the scythe of Nanatsu, and not in a state anywhere as near as perfect as Nanatsu's Shi no Taizai.

However, this woman had her long, pinkish red hair long and wore it open, allowing it to reach just below her shoulders.

"Komachi?" I muttered in confusion. It was then that the Shinigami that had just rounded the corner seemed to notice me. And as she did, she let out a terrified gasp, reached for her hair, and vanished around the corner again.

I rose an eyebrow at this, turned to Nanatsu and was just about to ask her what the hell that had been about when Komachi returned, this time with her usual two ponytails tied by two double hair beads.

"C-Chôzen! Nanatsu! Rumia!" exclaimed the Shinigami happily as she blushed, apparently because of the hair thing just now. However, no one of us commented that and instead smiled back at the ferryman Shinigami.

"And no one notices me. Pah!" snorted a very certain Sukima no Youkai, but was, much to her chagrin, still ignored. Rather than that, Komachi finally reached us and immediately turned to the two younger girls to examine them.

Yajû frowned at that, Yume however blushed and moved a little backwards, brought distance between her and Komachi.

"A little shy, isn't she? Let me guess, she's your daughter, Nanatsu!" sniggered Komachi with a knowing glance into the direction of the other Shinigami before she turned to Yajû, "And that one is definitely Rumia's daughter! Just looking at her confirms that... Like mother, like daughter, hm?"

"Shut up Komachi!" growled Nanatsu, blushing herself. Komachi, though, merely began to laugh and nudged Nanatsu in the ribs with her elbow.

"Didn't think you'd really take my advice. You remember, the one I gave you when you left, right?" snickered the red haired woman as she continued to nudge her fellow Shinigami with her elbow, causing her to blush even worse.

"You don't seem to be surprised..." I muttered under my breath in annoyance, causing Komachi to turn her attention to me.

"Nah. Actually, I was the one who encouraged you three, remember? Besides, I was always the one who actually wondered why you three..." she didn't finish because I chose the moment to change the topic around.

"And I remember you to be Gensokyo's biggest slacker, Komachi... Now stop teasing us and lead us to Shikieiki." I huffed, to which Komachi puffed her cheeks and pouted.

"Twenty years and I can't even tease you?! Come on, why are you doing this to me?" pouted the ferryman Shinigami and crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"Because it is you, Komachi." sniggered Rumia as she leaned over Komachi's right shoulder and breathed into her ear, scaring Komachi.

"Stop doing that, Rumia!"

I rolled my eyes and turned to Yukari... At least, where Yukari should've been. Her spot was empty, though, causing me to frown at her absence. At first, I thought she had already entered the courtroom, but the doors were still closed and Yukari seemed to be nowhere in sight... Until I noticed the blonde woman huddled up in the darkest corner of the room, hidden in perfect gloom.

"No one cares about me..."

I rolled my eyes at the depression of the Sukima no Youkai. "Stop fooling around Yukari! We don't have the time, and I don't have the nerves to bear with your annoying jokes."

At this, Yukari sent me a dangerous glare over her right shoulder, but then rose from her crouched position and returned to her usual self in the blink of an eye. She was about to say something, but was interrupted when Komachi stepped past her and pushed the double doors to the courtroom open.

"Please wait in here. Shikieiki should return any moment... She left last night for a meeting of the Circle of Yama and should be here any moment." spoke Komachi as she gestured us to step into the large room, then turned to leave.

"And why aren't you with her?" asked Nanatsu, causing Komachi to stop again. She frowned at Nanatsu, but then smiled.

"Minoue is with her. You know that each Yama only needs one Shinigami to be with her, and I think Minoue suits better for that than me. Besides, since Minoue is to become a Yama one day, it is better if she knows procedure of the meetings. The other Yama have high expectations for her." explained Komachi with a small, proud smile. She didn't wait for us to nod, though, and immediately left, muttering that she had work to do.

Yeah, as if. We're talking about Gensokyo's biggest slacker here. It was true that she did her work surprisingly well once she actually did it, but that was only once in a blue moon. So I watched her leave, continued to do so until she had turned around the next corner, and then turned back to my family, which had already started to enter the courtroom with Yukari.

"Woah. Now that is large!" exclaimed Yajû as she stepped into the room and looked around, "And we'll be working here one day? Awesome!"

We followed Yajû into the large room as she continued to dance around inside it, Yukari being the first one to step inside the room after Yajû. Yume seemed to be amazed as well at the large, white hall, but kept herself under control as she looked around.

"Not exactly. This is the courtroom of Higan, the room where Shikieiki judges the souls of the deceased... She's the one who spents most of the time in here. Angel of Death and Shinigami are sent into Gensokyo most of the time." I corrected Yajû. She didn't seem to be disheartened by that, but stopped to smirk at us.

"Oh my ears must be deceiving me! Is that the lovely voice of Chôzen Gekido that I hear?" shouted another voice from across the room, and all of us froze up. I frowned at the heavy wooden door with a small, metal-grilled window. The voice sounded awfully familiar... But why? And what was behind that door?

"Shut up!" huffed Yukari as she suddenly gapped herself to the door and knocked against it, "You told too many lies already!"

"Ah, I think someone is pissed out there. Jealous, Yukari? Should I rather turn my attention back to you?" laughed the voice. It was definitely the voice of a male, sounded awfully familiar... But something was off with it. And I just couldn't place my finger on it.

"I told you to shut up!" snarled Yukari and knocked against the door again. Only this time did it swing open, and Yukari fell into the corridor behind it, letting out a shocked gasp as she did so. I felt my frown increase, sent my family a cautious glance and then approached the door as well.

"I'm going to investigate... I'll be back in a moment." I murmured towards Nanatsu as I walked past her, my eyes on the door that was now slightly ajar, which came closer and closer.

Pushing it open to look inside, I found a dimly lit corridor, it's stony walls only illuminated by the torches on the walls, leaving the corridor that contrasted with the rest of Higan's white walls in a scary atmosphere. Yukari lay on the ground in front of me, huffed and hammered a fist down on it in anger. Really wasn't her day, as it seemed.

Turning my attention to the wall to my left, I found a small prison cell, it's interior covered in shadows. Thanks to my glowing eyes, though, I could see the inside pretty well as I stepped closer. And that way, I found the shape that sat on a wooden bed, a lopsided smile upon it's lips.

It was a middle-aged man with raven hair, his body lean and his skin pale. He was wearing a simple, black shirt and some pants of the same color that seemed to be one size too small for him, clinging tightly to his slender legs. And if it hadn't been for that sarcastic smile, I wouldn't even have recognized him. He had lost quite a bit of weight, was merely a shadow of what he had once been.

"Sly?!" I muttered in surprise, only to remember Shikieiki's words from back then. She had told me that there was no 'Sly' in Gensokyo. No man with a nickname like that. But how could he not exist if he was here now, before my very self? It all seemed to make no sense...

"Sly? Oh, yeah. Sorry, almost forgot that people were calling me that." laughed the man and leaned against the wall behind him, closed his eyes and waved a hand dismissively, "I've been in here for so long that I already forgot. Here, everybody calls me by a different name."

I watched as he pushed himself onto his feet and stretched his tired limbs, rolled his neck, and eventually approached the bars that separated me from him. What was he doing here? Why was he in a prison cell? And what did he mean with 'everybody called him by a different name'?

"So I did hear right. Fancy meeting you here, Chôzen... Didn't think we'd meet again so soon, and especially not here. I mean... It's been what? Twenty years?" he chuckled, and it was then that I noticed that he was missing his very distinct way to speak.

"What happened to you? And your...?" I began, only to be interrupted by him as he shook his head.

"Sorry... Guess I have to tell you that I always..." he stopped for a moment, as if to search for the right words, "It was an act. A disguise. I was hiding behind the mask of the bold barkeeper with the weird way to speak."

I cringed as he let out a bloodcurdling laugh, watched in shock as he took a few steps back into the shadows of his prison cell. Behind me, I heard Yukari huff in annoyance, but paid her no mind, instead continued to focus on the man behind the bars.

"I manipulated those around me, played with their minds... Did you know that I made up that nickname, 'Sly', myself? It weren't the men at the human village that came up with the name, it was me. I just began to refer to myself as Sly, and others began as well." explained the man with an amused chuckle, right before he collapsed back onto the bed.

Examining him closer, now cautious, I noticed something that was very hard to see due to how thin he had become and how lifeless he seemed... But I was sure as I examined him. He didn't seem to have aged a single day since my departure from Gensokyo twenty years earlier...

"I see... Why?" I murmured, narrowing my eyes at him to observe his further reactions. And his only reaction was to shrug.

"Wanted to settle down, live a quiet life, peacefully among others." he replied eventually, "But as you can see now, I am imprisoned for my past crimes."

"What kind of crimes?" I asked cautiously.

"I stole, deceived and murdered. That enough information? Hey, I'm not proud of it, but we do what we have to do to survive. You should understand that." huffed the barkeeper, his smirk turning into a frown. For some reason, this game of twenty questions did seem to amuse him, and even he seemed to know that we were not done yet. I already had the next question ready.

"If your name is not Sly, what is it then?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I have no name. Never bothered to claim such a thing. I had many nicknames over the years, but never a real name... But I think I settle for Sly. I've taken a liking to that name." he chuckled, then jumped up again. He seemed quite restless with the way he continued to move, sit down, and then move again...

"Anyways..." he spoke and approached the bars, leaned against them and glared down the corridor, "You won't believe what rumor I heard... Oh, and by the way, the thing with me gathering rumors was not part of the act. I love to do that."

"I'm all ears." I only commented, lifting the eyebrow at him again. In reply, he pointed down the corridor.

"We're in the prison part of Higan. Those who have committed several crimes are imprisoned here... The greater the crime, the further down is their cell. And guess who's down there..." chuckled the barkeeper, narrowing his eyes at me, an insane smile creeping onto his lips.

"Shikieiki Yamaxanadu has found him, Chôzen... The mass murderer and serial killer... She caught it twenty years ago. After so many centuries." smirked the barkeeper. Behind me, I heard Yukari gasp, but once again paid her no mind.

"Who? Is he...?"

"He? No. It, Chôzen. That thing is no human, and no Youkai... It is just a thing. A mindless thing, it's only purpose to kill..." whispered the male ominously, "Yeah... She has caught it. Abendsonne."

I bit down on my tongue in shock. Abendsonne was the name of some kind of mass murderer that had roamed around Gensokyo during the time I had been caught in a time paradox, but he had vanished several centuries ago, had escaped even the Circle of Yama. However, when Mima had started her attack on Gensokyo twenty years ago, his name had resurfaced. Apparently, he had been helping Mima, but managed to escape yet again.

And now Shikieiki had him? The cunning individual that had escaped her grasp for so long?

"You mean...?" I muttered, and Sly nodded, a smirk that kept true to his name on his lips.

"Oh yeah. The same one who once killed in Gensokyo, the same one that vanished several centuries ago and reappeared to help Mima twenty years ago. He got careless when he decided to help her as it seems, since Shikieiki managed to outsmart him. Turned out he wasn't as smart as he thought he was... Guess he was just lucky all the time. I saw him when they brought him down here." snickered Sly and leaned back, relaxed.

"What did he look like?" I inquired quickly, only for Sly to laugh again.

"It, Chôzen, it... I mean, yes, he had the appearance of a man, but if you ask me, there is no life in him... On the inside, he is just a mindless beast." commented Sly, "Well, I think he looked pretty casual. Blonde hair, ripped clothes. Apparently spend most of his days hiding among a pack of Wolf Youkai in the caves under the Forest of Magic."

"Not as great as everyone thought as it seems..." I muttered to myself and turned to look over my shoulder to the door. To my surprise, someone stood in the door. Someone awfully familiar.

"Shikieiki!" I gasped and smiled at her. But Shikieiki only sent me a short glance and a nod, and then turned to Sly.

"Human known as Sly..." she spoke lowly, causing Yukari to gasp another time. Seemed she was just as surprised by this whole thing.

"Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, my favourite Yama." laughed Sly and leaned against the bars, stared at Shikieiki with amusement in his eyes.

"As you may know, during the meeting of the Circle of Yama last night, your further fate was decided." spoke Shikieiki in her formal tone as she stepped past me to the bars. She rose her hand and made a gesture above her head, and almost immediately Minoue entered the room and stepped up to Shikieiki.

"Oh, but why should I know?" asked the barkeeper innocently. Too innocently.

"Because I am well aware that you do have excellent relationships with some of the Yama and their Shinigami. And I believe one of those Shinigami visited you earlier." growled Shikieiki.

"My best customers and always welcome guests." laughed Sly, now reminding me more of the Sly that I knew.

"Back to the topic at hand. Human Sly, your fate was decided. Minoue." growled Shikieiki and moved her hand, gesturing Minoue to do something. The younger Shinigami nodded, closed her eyes and rose her golden scythe. And then, slammed the hilt against the door to Sly's prison. It glowed for a second, then simply faded out of reality. Minoue opened her eyes again, stepped into the prison cell.

Sly continued to smirk as she approached him, didn't react as she rose her scythe across her eyes and narrowed her eyes. I did, however.

"You're going to kill him?!" I shouted at the Yama aside me. But she didn't reply. Instead, I heard Minoue's scythe hit it's intended target.

With a loud noise, the shackles that had been around Sly's wrists fell to the ground.

"You are to be free. You are to return to Gensokyo and continue your life. Twenty years of imprisonment may not redeem all of your sins and crimes, but it has been decided that the years that you spent in the human village, helping those in need and protecting those who needed protection, are proof enough that you do have changed." announced Shikieiki, but it wasn't that hard to see that she didn't exactly agree with that.

She turned away, lowered her rod of remorse and closed her eyes.

"And now leave. Get out of my sight!" hissed the judge, and Sly listened. He stepped out of the prison cell, but stopped aside me for a second.

"Ya chose an interesting day ta show up, Chôz'n. Guess ya're some kind of lucky charm ta me! Anyways, was fancy seein' ya, but I'll have ta go somewhere. I expect ya ta show up at my pub soon, though. We have a lot ta discuss, I think..." laughed Sly, using his very distinct way to speak again, "See ya!"

"Minoue will guide you out." hissed Shikieiki as Sly stepped past her, and for only a short second, their eyes met. And as they did, I easily spotted the rivalry in between Sly and Shikieiki. Hatred and blind anger from Shikieiki's side, hidden behind a perfectly indifferent expression but visible in her eyes; and the amusement but challenge in Sly's eyes. It was as if he dared her to make a move.

But it remained at that. Sly slipped out of the door, followed by Minoue. But not without some last words.

"Hey, Enma!" I heard Sly shout as he and Minoue stepped through the courtroom, past a surprised Nanatsu and Rumia, "Best regards from Abendsonne! He has been complainin' all night about how he missed ya! Ya should've heard his wails from the lower parts of the prison!"

Suddenly, blind anger flooded the indifferent expression and Shikieiki pushed the door open, pointed her rod of remorse at the barkeeper and narrowed her eyes at him.

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

Sly burst into another fit of laughter, laughter that echoed through Higan even as he had long left the courtroom. But at least Shikieiki seemed to calm down.

It remained silent for a few minutes. And it was eventually Yukari, who we had long forgotten, that broke the silence.

"He's gone, Eiki. One less to worry about." spoke Yukari as she finally rose to her feet with the help of a gap. But Shikieiki just shook her head, then gestured us to follow.

"Is it true, Shikieiki? You captured Abendsonne? Sly said something like that..." I muttered, and Shikieiki froze for a short second.

"Yeah. I got him... He is... In the lower parts of the prison. Where he belongs." replied the Yama without any emotion as she closed the door behind us.

The three of us returned to the courtroom, and while Yukari and I stopped aside my family, Shikieiki climbed up the stairs to the seat of the judge, where she finally sat down behind the wooden desk.

"I am sorry for that..." she finally spoke and looked down at us, her frown replaced by a smile, "It is good to see you three again after all those years. And even with a new generation of the Gekido Bloodline."

Yajû frowned a little at those words, but stepped forward. Yume, on the other hand, blushed immediately and shrunk a little. She played a little with the lollipop stick that protruded from her mouth, and finally stepped forward as well.

"I think I should introduce myself... I am Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, the Yama of Gensokyo. Seeing as you are the descendants of Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Shisô respectively, I assume that you are a Shinigami and an Angel of Death respectively?" inquired Shikieiki, and both of my daughters nodded.

"Very well. Nanatsu, Rumia, do they carry your respective seals?" continued the Enma, her gaze shifting from Yajû and Yume to Rumia and Nanatsu, both of them standing to my left.

"Yes, they do. However..." began Nanatsu, only to be interrupted by Shikieiki letting out a loud sigh.

"However, problems did arise, isn't that correct?" sighed Shikieiki and rested her face in her hands. Nanatsu nodded slowly.

"It seems that while Yajû does possess my seal, the seal of bloodlust, she is unable to cope with it's abilities... She has so far shown no sign of having inherited my abilities. Or any abilities at all." grumbled Rumia, crossing her arms beneath her chest, her lips tightly pressed together in a scowl.

"Yume has a similar problem. She has my seal, the seal of Taizai, and while she has shown to possess my powers, they are crippled within her and she is unable to use them correctly. Unlike Yajû, however, Yume has abilities on her own." added Nanatsu.

"Crippled? How unusual. That should not be the case..." murmured Shikieiki and turned to look past us. Turning around, I watched as Komachi entered the room together with Minoue.

"He is gone now, Shikieiki-sama." spoke Minoue as she bowed to the Enma, obviously referring to Sly. Shikieiki nodded at this, then turned back to us.

"I do not understand how this could be the case, Nanatsu. As far as we know, your daughter should possess the full power of the seven sins to begin with... She would of course not be able to use them until she is to replace you, but they would still be present. Seeing as they are crippled, I can only assume that there is yet something that has escaped our attention so far..." muttered the Yama, only to close her eyes as she began to think.

"And you said that Yajû, the daughter of you and Chôzen, has no powers at all, Rumia?"

The Angel of Death nodded once, didn't even growl at this.

"Nonetheless, the two of them are to become your successors, no matter their power..." continued the Yama as she glanced back to my daughters with a thoughtful frown, "I hope that we'll work together as well as I did with your mothers."

Before any of the girls could say a thing, though, Shikieiki turned, for the first time that day, to me. And narrowed her eyes in a way that could only be described as dangerous and threatening.

"Have there been any problems regarding... your genetic information being passed on?"

At these words I let out a loud growl and turned to look towards Yukari, glared into her direction, even though she hadn't done a thing. She seemed to understand, though, and merely nodded, telling me to answer Shikieiki's question.

"Yes, there have been." I replied eventually as I faced the Yama again, "As far as we know, Yume's crippled powers and Yajû's lack of abilities could very well be due to the reason that my genetic information is deformed through the nihilism and my excessive use of the negative energy..."

Everyone aside Shikieiki, Nanatsu and Rumia rose an eyebrow at me as I spoke. For a good reason. After all, not many did know that my genetic information, my DNA, was more or less unstable. It was actually something like a miracle that something could've been born with my genetic information, and possibly was the reason that both Yajû and Yume were more like their respective mothers than like me.

"Also, Yume shows a visual sign of a genetic defect caused by my deformed genetic information." I continued and approached Yume. Seeing this, she let out a gasp of realization and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Dad, are you saying that...?!" she began, and I nodded.

"Correct. The fact that your irises, Yume, are completely colorless, thus appear to be silver sometimes, and reflect anything like mirrors instead... Is due to the fact that my genetic information could be considered to be not meant to be passed on. It is caused by a genetic defect that you have." I confirmed, staring deep into the two mirrors that Yume's eyes were.

"As far as I can see, it is probably the genetic information that causes your eyes to glow that causes hers to be colorless." commented Minoue from the side, and I turned to look at her.

"Exactly my thoughts." I confirmed, and Minoue nodded, getting lost in thought herself.

"But they do not seem to have taking any damages due to genetic defects... And I can assure you that their lack of power is not due to a genetic defect. It has to do with their respective mothers rather than that, I assume... Meaning that the only genetic defect that seems to be caused by your deformed genetic information is the lack of color in Yume's eyes." mused Shikieiki.

"However, continue to watch over them. There could be problems that have yet to show themselves." continued the Yama and finally rose from her seat, rounded it and climbed down the stairs to us.

"But let us leave those unpleasant topics aside for now. The reason of your presence is, after all, rather one to celebrate." smiled Shikieiki, and rose her rod of remorse to the height of her chest, "So let me be the first one to say it: Welcome back in Gensokyo."

At this, I couldn't help but smile, a short chuckle escaping me. All of the bad mood seemed to be pushed away all of sudden, and joy flew through me.

"Thank you, Shikieiki." I breathed and the Yama nodded with a smile that surpassed my own.

"I assume Yukari has recruited you for this years fighting tournament? It will start today, after all, and you cannot tell me it is a mere coincidence that you returned on the day it is about to start." smiled Shikieiki, sending a knowing glance into Yukari's direction.

"Of course it is not! Where would've been the fun if the three of them just sat in the audience? That would steal the entire show!" laughed Yukari, and sat down on a gap of hers. She hovered a little over the ground, waved her folding fan in the same mischievous way as ever.

"I see. Now that is an interesting turn of events. And I will be sure not to miss it. The Circle of Yama has allowed me to take a week off for this event, seeing as I would be the perfect choice to prevent any problems that may arise... After all, whole Gensokyo comes together for that event." chuckled Shikieiki and turned back to us.

"The tournament will start in three hours, so it's best if I stop stealing your time... You will need it to prepare, after all." spoke the Yama and took a step back. But then, her face lit up. Apparently, she had remembered something.

"Ah! Of course, I almost forgot... Komachi, please bring me Senkoku." commanded Shikieiki, causing all of us to frown and Komachi to salute.

"One moment, Shikieiki-sama!"

The red haired Shinigami dashed through the room and threw the door to the prison open, then vanished inside, leaving us to frown at the open door.

"I do have a present for you, Nanatsu... Seeing as you are going to participate in the tournament, I believe it will be of great help to you!" exclaimed the Yama with a big smile.

"A present? For me?" asked Nanatsu in confusion, and Shikieiki nodded. It was that moment that Komachi returned, carrying a large dark gray chest in her arms, as long as she was tall. With it, she stepped up to us and placed the chest on the ground before us.

"It should just be about the right size for you, Nanatsu! Shikieiki let the Oni of the Underground forge it, said it was a 'welcome-back present' for you! It's stainless, can stand great heat and packs quite a punch... I can barely lift it, but you should have no problems." smirked the red haired Shinigami as she began to open the locks on the chest.

We continued to frown at it until Komachi finally opened the chest, and revealed, much to our surprise, a large weapon that reminded a lot of a scythe... Only with the lack of a blade. It was large and of a dark bronze color, and instead of the blade at the top, it had a large hammerhead... Because this was a hammer. A sledgehammer.

"This is Senkoku. (1)" revealed Shikieiki and gestured Nanatsu to pick it up. Nanatsu did so, bowed down and put her hands around the large hilt of the weapon. The sledgehammer called Senkoku was the same size as Shi no Taizai, almost as tall as Nanatsu was. A normal person would've problems to wield such a large weapon, or even pick it up, but Nanatsu could do both quite easily.

We all stepped back and allowed Nanatsu to swing the new weapon a few times, and eventually, she ended this combo by twirling the weapon once, then swung it over her shoulder on her back, sliding it into the hook that Shi no Taizai was already attached to. And with both weapons crossed over her back, she smirked.

"I love it. It's not as fast as Shi no Taizai due to the lack of the blade that cuts through the air and leads to less air resistance that way, but it has much more power... Komachi, you are right. It packs quite a punch." smirked Nanatsu.

"And it looks good on your back in combination with Shi no Taizai. Think you can wield both at the same time?" commented Rumia with a big grin, but Nanatsu shook her head.

"Each of them is quite heavy to begin with, and once in motion, they are too fast to be handled with one hand... So no, I cannot wield them both at the same time. But I can swap between them, and that quite easily." replied Nanatsu, then smiled sheepishly, "But I have to admit that I was thinking about trying it for a second as well."

"I believe it will be of great help during the tournament... You'll face a lot of strong opponents. Yukari was not kidding when she said that she'll only offer the strongest of people to enter the tournament." commented Shikieiki.

"So... Who will we be facing?" inquired Rumia, glancing towards Yukari.

"I'm not going to tell you... No advantages, even for you. The others do not know who they'll be facing, and so will you." smirked the Sukima and winked. The three of us merely shrugged. It was only fair, after all.

"Fair enough." I commented and turned to my family. No one seemed to object, so I left it at that and turned to Shikieiki and her two Shinigami instead.

"I believe that we won't be fighting any of you three, though... So I'm just going to ask if you three will show up as well." I inquired, tilting my head a little.

"Like I just said, Chôzen, I'll be there as kind of overseer... I won't be one of the four judges, but I'll still be watching." replied Shikieiki with a curt nod, "Komachi and Minoue will patrol around the arena as well."

"I see... Who will the judges be?" I asked and turned to Yukari this time, seeing as she was the one who took care of this year's tournament. The Sukima rose an eyebrow, but continued to smile, tapped the closed folding fan against her lips and seemed to reconsider whether to tell me or not.

"Rinnosuke Morichika, Akyuu no Hieda, Aya Shameimaru and someone I have yet to ask..." chuckled Yukari sheepishly. And I found myself frowning at the last part.

"It's the first day of the tournament and you have yet to ask the last judge if he is going to take the place?" I muttered in confusion, only for Yukari to nod and everyone to look skeptically at her.

"I didn't get the chance before, today is the first time that I'll have the chance. No problem though, it doesn't matter if we have four or just three judges." laughed Yukari, then waved her right hand and opened a gap by the double doors of the courtroom.

"Anyways, we'll have to take our leave now. It is getting late, and you three have yet to prepare... And I'll have to get you into the arena somehow. Yajû, Yume, I fear that you'll have to take the front entrance like the normal audience. Nonetheless will I take you with me now." spoke the Sukima and climbed off her gap.

I nodded along with the others, then turned to Shikieiki and the two similar looking Shinigami to bid them a short goodbye, and finally approached the gap right behind Rumia, Yajû and Yume. The latter two seemed to be a mess of different emotions, shocked and surprised about what they had just learned about themselves, and yet excited and cautious to what they would be facing in a few moments.

"Nanatsu." As Shikieiki called out to my first wife again, I stopped along with Nanatsu, while Rumia and my two daughters already stepped into the gap and left. Turning to the Yama, I found her giving something to Minoue... It was a black bundle.

Minoue nodded, then quickly stepped up to Nanatsu and gave her the same bundle that she had just received from Shikieiki. I could spot a few colorful dots on the black material... And immediately knew what it was. And couldn't help but smile.

"It's a spare one that you left here... You should wear it during the tournament." smiled Minoue, then took a few steps away from her fellow Shinigami.

"Thank you... I definitely will. I wouldn't feel back at home if I wouldn't wear it." chuckled Nanatsu softly, then continued to examine the black bundle in her arms for a few seconds... The kimono. Her kimono, just like the one from back then.

"And now go... It is your time to shine again, and you wouldn't want to keep Gensokyo waiting any longer than it did already, right?" urged Shikieiki, and Nanatsu nodded quickly. With the black bundle in her arms, she rushed past me and vanished in the gap with a huge smile on her lips.

"You too, Chôzen. I will take care of the rest... I'll inform the Circle of Yama of your return to Gensokyo, and I'll have the gateway in your basement removed. You will no longer be in need of it, correct? It may take a while until it is gone, but we will seal it properly, alright?" spoke Shikieiki, and I confirmed this with a big smile.

With that, I turned to Yukari for a second, nodded to confirm that it was indeed time... And then, with a last wave towards Shikieiki, Komachi and Minoue, left through the gap. I didn't know where it would lead me. I didn't know who would await me and who I'd meet again first. All I knew was that I was back.

I was at home.

* * *

Much to my surprise and amusement, though, the gap led me back home... My home in Gensokyo, the house where we had trained each day during the last weeks. The rest of my family was already awaiting me, and Yukari arrived via a separate gap.

The moment that she touched the ground, she had already prepared another gap on which she sat down and rose into the air again. Waving her folding fan a bit, she smirked in her usual mischievous way, but then turned away and faced the three barriers that still surrounded the house.

"You wouldn't be entirely at home if those barriers remain, right?" spoke the Sukima no Youkai and placed a hand on the barrier of darkness. She shuddered a little as she touched the barrier, but then turned to look over her left shoulder at us.

My smirk increased at this and my gaze found it's way to the three barriers as well. To return to Gensokyo, we would have to destroy the three barriers from the inside to the outside, starting with the barrier of darkness on the inside, the barrier of sins following after that, and finally the barrier of negative energy on the outside.

I was about to turn to Rumia when the Angel of Death already walked past me and placed a hand on the barrier.

"Gensokyo, here we come!" exclaimed the fallen angel and the mad grin that we were used to from her graced her features. No word was spoken by anyone as we watched how the dark wall that surrounded the house slowly began to fade, absorbed into a single ball of darkness in Rumia's hand that grew as the barrier shrunk.

Eventually, Rumia was holding a black orb of darkness twice as tall as her fist. She rose it to the height of her face, stared almost proudly at the orb she had gathered... And then, surprising us all, just bit down on it, greedily bit a whole chunk off and swallowed it without even chewing.

_**"Now that's one way to absorb your own element... Now that's a snack."**_

With the wall of darkness down, the next wall was exposed, the wall of purgatory. I nodded into the direction of my first wife and she nodded back, but not without sending a confused glance into the direction of Rumia. I shrugged, and Nanatsu sighed, but then eventually walked past us to the barrier of the seven sins, the barrier of the purgatory.

Her two weapons, Shi no Taizai and Senkoku, shook gently as she approached the wall, and placed a hand on it. It took a few seconds before anything happened, though. The thing that happened was that the red barrier began to glow a lighter color, heat up and suddenly burst into flames. And once it had done, it only took it a few seconds to fade into nothingness.

And with that, it was my turn.

Stepping past Yukari, who gave me an encouraging smile; Yume and Yajû, who were both grinning in excitement; Rumia, still munching on her ball of darkness; and Nanatsu, just smiling at me. I nodded as I passed her, gave Yukari a thumbs-up, and eventually reached the wall of negative energy, the last thing that separated us from Gensokyo.

At least... Everyone but me.

I decided to have a little fun and walked right through it... Due to it being made of nothing but negative energy and a little of Shikieiki's power, I could walk right through it due to being mostly made of negative energy myself. But as I did, I made sure to stabilize the negative energy that the wall was made of.

And as such, it burst apart behind me, right after hearing the shocked gasps of the females. Because of that, I had a pretty good laugh, receiving some glares from the girls.

"Oh come on, as if I'd just go in and leave you back... Besides, Yukari would've been able to follow me or get me back in anyways, so don't be like that." I laughed, waving my hand at them. The girls continued to glare, but Yukari relaxed and let out a small chuckle. I had to admit, it felt good to be the one to pull a joke on Yukari once in a while rather than the opposite.

I watched as the Sukima hovered on her gap into my direction, followed by the remaining girls. And as Yukari hovered right in front of me, she finally smiled widely.

"Welcome back in Gensokyo."

"Thank you, Yukari."

And with that, she waved her hand once, creating another gap. I knew this one would lead to the arena, where our re-socialization with Gensokyo would start. Where we would meet everyone again. Yukari was right... Only after destroying the three barriers, it really felt like we were back in Gensokyo.

We were back...

_7 Days remaining until the events in the godforsaken land..._

**End of the Prologue Arc**

* * *

(1) "Senkoku", the name of Nanatsu's sledgehammer, means "Judgement"

* * *

_And so, we finished the prologue arc! Chôzen, Nanatsu and Rumia are back in Gensokyo and have brought their daughters along... Next time, the great reunion will take place and the tournament that eventually leads to the first chapter will start!_

_Since there is not much to say here, I'll go straight to the part that I announced at the end of my profile page... The poll I am going to start regarding two spin-offs which I am unsure if to write or not. Two short descriptions of the spin-offs will follow now, so please take a moment to read them and vote on the poll on my profile whether I should write them or not._

Dark Paradise: A NBP Spin-off that follows a much darker route. It will basically be a "What if Mima won at the end of I-NB?" and will feature Hong Meiling, Sakuya Izayoi and Dio Brando (HA!) as it's main characters. You want to see what the "Complete Darkness" that Mima wanted to unleash is? Vote for this and you'll see... On a side-note, "Dark Paradise" would be a M-rated Fanfiction of the genre horror...

Koumajou Densetsu III - Solitary Duet: A NBP Spin-off in the Koumajou Densetsu Style! Since I've been wondering why there has been no Koumajou Densetsu Fanfiction until now, I made up my own. Since Koumajou Densetsu, a series of two fangames made by Frontier Aja, is basically a castlevania-styled touhou, "Solitary Duet" would be as well... Featuring Ryoko Jigoku and Shiho Kumo, two OC's that I haven't used much yet, as it's main characters. I think it would be interesting... But if you think so as well, please vote for it!

**Both spin-offs are already fully planned, but I would not start writing them until the summer holidays due to having enough to do with real life and my already existing stories HoH and II-NM. Also, I have not forgotten about Negative Reality, and it will have an update in the middle of the Easter holidays!**

_Please take a moment to vote whether or not to write both, one of them, or none of them on my profile. Please and thank you ;)._

_With this, I shall take a good night's rest, I'm tired..._

_This is SorrowfulReincarnation, and I'll see you later, guys and gals!_

_So long~_


	5. Arc II - Ch I Crashing the party!

_Alright everybody, sorry I'm late. Twice, in a sense._

_Originally, this update was supposed to be up last Sunday, but I kind off underestimated how long it would be (I was only halfway done then, but thought I was nearly done). Aside that, this update was supposed to be up about five hours ago... Same reason. Underestimated how long the last scene would be / how much time it would consume to write it._

_Last time, Chôzen and family entered Gensokyo again and ended the isolation that way... It's time for the grand reunion! And Yukari, of course, wants it to be shocking and unexpected... So it's going to be at the tournament. Which will start as well..._

_Seeing as I am already late, let's move on to review time so I can finally give you the chapter you waited for._

**Tez7... **You have no idea how right you are. Crazy doesn't even explain what will be going on this time. Put the Negative Bullet incident with the fight against Mima into the archive, once this book comes to it's peak you'll be blown out of the window! (I hope!) Not literally, of course. (I hope! xD)

**Aerhyce... **Let me comment both of your reviews here, alright? The one for chapter one first, of course.

No happy opening this time. Like you deduced correctly, Chôzen is left in a very depressed state in the first chapter, denies himself being Gekido because of something that has happened. He denies any recollection of the events of both the Negative Bullet incident and whatever has happened to lead to that point... He doesn't want to remember it. You've got important points, however. That's all I'm going to answer :). Oh, and sorry for the "return in time" thing. I hope it hurts, but doesn't kill xD.

Next review, fourth chapter. I feel sorry for the alarm clock as well, but my hatred for those little, annoying, irritating, sleep-killing...! Ahum. I think my hatred comes through whenever I mention them. I'm sorry. Nanatsu going berserk is fun to imagine... And write.

Oh, and don't try to figure the thing with Sly and Abendsonne out. Let's just say I did that on purpose. First hint at "Abendsonne" being Sly, then make Sly reveal it wasn't him. Bwahaha! I was waiting for that reaction!

I'm sorry xD.

**Yuuji Narukami... **Okay, so your review caught me off guard and strangely made me feel really good, though. I admit that, when I started writing Negative Bullet Project, I've never expected such positive reviews, and at one point was even pondering if to continue... Like I mentioned before in I-NB, the original ending of Negative Bullet was set around the part with the apocalyptic night. And it's reviews like yours that make me really happy I didn't stop there. And my brain thanks me as well for that, seeing as it nearly exploded with new ideas for the plot.

You've got a few questions towards the middle of your review, and one will be answered in this chapter. Behold the next shocker! xD

I found your idea for a spin-off fairly interesting, but for now, all I can say about it is that I'll come back to this later. Please don't think about the meaning of that and wait a bit, okay? You'll see soon.

_Alright, that's about it. Sorry if something in this time's review time doesn't make sense, like I said before, it's about four hours after the time I wanted to upload this (9PM CEST + 5 hours = 2 AM)._

_So let's just end this A/N right here so that I can go to bed to get my well deserved beauty sleep (don't mention this, please, I just couldn't go to bed knowing that the chapter was not finished like I had announced. Besides, I was just too much into this, I couldn't stop writing...)_

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Yume Gekido and Yajû Gekido-Shisô do belong to me, as for I have created them. This goes for the OC's introduced in this chapter as well._

* * *

_**Negative Bullet Project II: Negative Mind**_

_**Arc 1: Team Terror!**_

_**Chapter 1: Crashing the party!**_

The inside of Yukari's world looked like always, a black and purple nothingness with the all too curious eyes floating around, observing us. The mistress of this strange and creepy world, Yukari Yakumo, hovered right in front of us on an empty gap, her legs crossed and her folding fan tapping her lips gently.

"I believe this is where we have to part, my nieces. I cannot grant you entrance to the living quarters of the arena just like that... And it's gonna raise questions if you two appear in the arena without anyone seeing how you entered." began the Sukima no Youkai and waved her folding fan at us.

"Living quarters?" repeated Nanatsu and rose an eyebrow at Yukari, drawing the Sukima's attention to her.

"Oh, yes, didn't I tell you? The tournament is going to take a whole week... Or, at least, we prepared it for one week, even though only six days are planned. However, we prepared for one more just in case that some things happen that were not planned. We had something like that last year... Fujiwara no Mokou burned down the battlefield, which is why we took precautions this year." replied the Sukima.

"Precautions? Like?" I inquired, curious as to what we had to expect.

"Like I said already, we prepared for another additional day. Aside that, the battlefield will be surrounded by a magical barrier before each battle starts. It prevents anything from entering or leaving the battlefield, including living beings and any kind of attack... Well, at least unless you, Chôzen, decide to negate it, the only thing we couldn't make it resistant against. The magical barrier will be provided by Kanako Yasaka... We already tested it, and it works just fine." explained Yukari.

"So she's not going to participate?" I asked, and Yukari nodded. Somehow, I was a little disappointed at that, seeing as Kanako was my first rival ever, and one of the most exciting ones.

"No, Kanako is not going to participate. She did last year, but lost in the finals." smiled Yukari, before she continued, "Aside the barriers to protect the audience, we also chose a greater amount of possible sceneries to fight in this time. We even managed to find someone that specializes in terraforming magic."

"That so?" muttered Rumia with a questioning frown, "And why that?"

"Fighting on a blank stone ground wasn't exactly too special. I decided to make this year's tournament a little more realistic... The participants are not going to know in which surroundings they will fight. Not even I will know... The scenery of the battlefield will be entirely up to Yúgure's whims and will be decided by her right before the battle itself." replied Yukari.

"Who is Yúgure?" asked Yajû with a frown into our direction, but I merely shrugged. I had never heard the name before, as well. Yúgure... That was the japanese word for 'dusk, twilight or nightfall'... Mima? Could this Yúgure be someone related to Mima, or Mima herself? She couldn't be Mima's daughter... Mima was a spirit, unable to reproduce, even by Gensokyo's 'love and magic' way.

Besides, we were talking about Mima, an evil spirit born from a grudge... Sure, Mima could feel love, had fallen in love with Yuuka Kazami and had even married her... But let's face it: Their relationship was a love-hate relationship, and not pure love.

I'm not saying that their feelings for one another were not true or real; they were just as real as my feelings for Rumia or Nanatsu; but... I don't think that an offspring could be born from their relationship due to the large amount of hate along with the love.

"You'll meet Yúgure very soon. She's an... 'interesting' individual. Just make sure that... You do not get too close to her." chuckled Yukari uneasily, and to my surprise, rubbed her ass... That could've been a coincidence as well, though. I tilted my head nonetheless at that and rose an eyebrow.

"Does she smell or what?" asked Yajû in the same bold way as her mother, earning a chuckle from Yukari.

"No. Actually, she smells pretty nice. The problem is more of an emotional matter... She's... playful. Let's call it that." laughed the one and only Sukima no Youkai, before she shook her head.

"Back to topic. So, we've got a magical barrier, terraforming for the battlefield itself... Guardians at the entrance to the arena provided by the Komeiji-Sisters to prevent unwanted guests... Well, we have Eiki and her Shinigami to patrol the corridors... And we have at least three judges, just to make sure that we didn't miss anything during the battles." finished the Sukima no Youkai, and I nodded.

"Sounds like you thought of pretty much everything. But what about the fourth judge? You mentioned something like that if I recall right..." I commented while wriggling my right index finger a little, the leather glove making soft noises as it moved. Yes, I was wearing that again. For a last time, possibly. I wouldn't need it in Gensokyo, almost everyone knew what had happened to my hand, after all.

"I'll take care of that right after dropping you off. But I'll believe that we'll have a fourth judge, yeah." smirked Yukari, and I nodded.

"That will make things interesting." commented my second wife and smirked just as crazy as ever. And upon comparing the insane smirks of Yukari and Rumia, I could definitely tell that the two blondes were half-sisters, no matter how different they were aside from that.

"Anyways, let's move on. I believe I mentioned everything of interest for now... Which would mean that it is indeed time to depart for now." spoke the Sukima and hid her smirk behind her folding fan.

Yajû and Yume shared a glance; the latter one seemed pretty unsure and hesitant, but they nodded at each other. Yukari watched this silent exchange, nodded to herself, and then opened a gap with the shake of a delicate, gloved hand.

"This will bring you directly to the front entrance of the arena. Once in there, follow the other visitors to the seats. I'll come to pick you up later on. In between the battles, you can go visit your parents if that's your wish. I'll make sure that no one will stop you." explained the Sukima before she turned to us and opened another gap, "And we'll go straight to the quarters. All of the participants have their rooms there, but they are separated with corridors to prevent them from seeing each other before the great revelation."

I nodded towards Yukari, then watched as my daughters left through the first gap. With them gone, I turned to the other gap and watched as Yukari and my wives left, then let out a sigh and followed as well.

Upon leaving Yukari's world, I found myself in yet another corridor, much like the one in Higan, only a lot brighter. This was due to the fact that the ceiling was made of glass and allowed the sun to shine in through it. Looking down the corridor, I found that a part of it was completely made out of glass, but it was in the distance, possibly into the direction of the arena.

Turning the other way, I found that the corridor split into several ones... This had to be the location where the main corridor split to lead to the separated quarters. While no corridor was labeled with names, each of them had a large symbol drawn onto it's floor.

I looked at each of them in hope to find out anything about possible opponents we would face, but much too my disappointment, couldn't even get a single clue as to who we would be up against from the symbols.

It was a total of eight corridors. The one on the far left had a red flame as it's symbol, a black question mark in it's middle. The one aside it had half of a sun as it's sign, fading from an orange color to the left into a gray one on the right.

The third corridor only showed a single violet eye, and the fourth one merely had a red star on the ground. On the ground of the fifth corridor was a white flower with what appeared to be a snowflake replacing the blossom, and the sixth corridor showed a red eye bleeding a single drop.

The last two symbols confused me just as much. The second to last symbol was an orange orb with two great, black wings; and the last corridor had what appeared to be a cyan eye with it's iris replaced with a reversed cross as it's symbol.

_"Damn it... Whoever made those was pretty smart. I can hardly figure out what the symbols are, and even less who they represent..."_ I thought upon observing the eight symbols.

_**"Yeah. But one interesting thing to note is that we have three symbols that appear to be eyes. A violet eye, a red eye bleeding a single drop, and a cyan eye with a reversed cross instead of an iris. I'm thinking of the Komeiji Sisters here."**_suggested my Flame-Soul, but I shook my head.

_"No... No, I don't think so. Satori and Koishi both were never much of a fighter, and I can hardly imagine that. That aside... We have three eyes here, but two Komeiji Sisters. No... We're taking those symbols too literal. Think of it as a hidden code, a hidden message..."_ I thought and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Don't even try to figure it out. We used idiot logic to encrypt the names." snickered a certain Sukima into my ear, to which I sent her a glare.

"'Oh yeah? And how does idiot logic work?" I huffed. And Yukari had waited for that, of course.

"Oh, it's simple. See that star there?" asked Yukari and nodded towards the fourth corridor. I nodded, and Yukari smirked.

"It's Yuugi Hoshiguma." revealed Yukari with a way too great smirk. And to my surprise, it made sense. A red star, that would fit perfectly onto the yellow star on Yuugi's horn... So where was the catch with this? Why was Yukari still smirking? Seeing as she didn't say anything further and was waiting for my reply, I shrugged and replied.

"Well it would make sense..." I commented and waited for Yukari to reveal the catch with the whole thing. And true enough, Yukari did reveal the catch.

"It not Yuugi Hoshiguma."

"What?! But didn't you just say that the star represents Yuugi Hoshiguma?" I complained.

"Did I? Oh, I'm sorry, of course that thing represents Star Sapphire, and the color represents Sunny Milk." laughed Yukari and I frowned at her. Well, that made sense, too.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense, too..." I muttered and frowned at the red star.

"Of course it makes sense! After all, it represents Yuugi Hoshiguma." chuckled Yukari, causing me to whirl towards her.

"BUT DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY IT REPRESENTS STAR AND SUNNY?" I shouted.

"Yeah, it does. And before you ask: No, Yuugi is not in their team." smirked Yukari, the lie obvious guessing from her expression. Or was it the truth, after all? If it was a lie, what was the lie?

"Yuugi or Star?" I growled, one eyelid twitching.

And Yukari merely shrugged.

"Marisa." she huffed. And I facepalmed.

"You're kidding me, are you?" I growled.

"No, I'm merely using idiot logic." snickered the Sukima with yet another shrug, sending an amused glance out of the corner of her eyes at my wives, who had seemingly lost track as well. While Nanatsu was staring with a blank expression at the red star sign, Rumia was frowning at her own hand, three fingers extended, one for each possibility that Yukari had named.

But, me being me, I didn't give up. I was going to beat Yukari with the same logic!

"What about this one?!" I snarled and pointed at the red eye bleeding a single drop.

"Satori." replied Yukari nonchalantly with a single shrug. I nodded, then pointed at the cyan eye with the cross.

"Satori." replied Yukari nonchalantly with a single shrug. I nodded, then... Wait second!

I pointed at the red eye again.

"Satori." smirked the Sukima no Youkai. I felt how my left eye began to twitch, but nonetheless pointed at the cyan eye.

"Satori." chuckled Yukari. My eyelid began to twitch more.

"Didn't you just say that the red eye represents Satori?" I asked with a frown and pointed at the red eye again in pure rage. Yukari nodded.

"Yeah. Because it does." she spoke with a frown.

"So the cyan one represents Koishi?" I asked.

"Yeah." admitted Yukari, finally growing bored of this game. I smirked in satisfaction and shook my head. Same old Yukari.

"So the red eye represents Satori, cyan one represents Koishi." I grinned towards my wives, satisfied that I had at least gotten some information out of Yukari. Sadly, I immediately wished I hadn't said it.

"No." spoke Yukari with a frown, causing me to turn to her again.

"What do you mean? The red eye represents Satori. That's what you said!" I insisted.

"I lied." smirked the Sukima no Youkai and tilted her head a little. So she hadn't grown bored of this game, she had just made it even more confusing! Damn it, so much for beating her at her own game!

"I give up." I growled and slapped my forehead.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present you yet another victim of the idiot logic!" laughed Yukari and pumped her fists into the air in triumph. I groaned in perfect unison with Rumia and Nanatsu, who were equally defeated. Yukari, however, was in an even better mood after that victory. But I'd pay her back eventually.

"Your quarter is that way." smiled Yukari and pointed to the corridor on the far left, the one with the red flame as it's symbol. I frowned at her, rose an eyebrow and examined the symbol.

"Why this one? Why the flame? Isn't it a bit obvious to use a flame as my symbol, Yukari? I used a green flame as my symbol for years now!" I huffed and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Because this time, it does not represent you. Like you said, your symbol is a green flame... This one is red. I did that on purpose to confuse everyone that might see it... We used a similar one for Fujiwara no Mokou's team last year, so everyone who is going to see it will assume it Fujiwara no Mokou... No one, and I mean no one, is expecting you three to show up in Gensokyo now." snickered the Gap Youkai and gestured us to follow the corridor.

"Besides... The red flame represents Nanatsu's hellfire. The question mark represents you, the walking enigma... And it's black to represent Rumia's darkness." explained Yukari then and waved a bit in the air with her right hand. Why? No reason, I guess.

"Is that idiot logic as well?" asked Rumia and crossed her arms behind her head, a bored expression gracing her features. I could see that she was waiting for the fights to begin. Heck, I was waiting as well!

"Not exactly. Just my smart self tricking everyone. Like I said, everyone who will see it is going to believe that the symbol represents Fujiwara no Mokou... Aside herself, but she's not here, or is she?" smirked Yukari and glanced into our direction.

We were walking down the corridor to our quarters now, Yukari walking to our left with an amused grin on her lips. Yes, this whole thing pleased her. This was just another, grand scheme of hers. She was tricking everyone, was going to surprise everyone with our sudden return to Gensokyo. Tricking others and surprising people was what she was best at, and I had to admit that she is the best at that as well.

Kogasa could learn a thing or two from her. But then again, she had done her job pretty well when her interests had been manipulated...

"Anyways, we just stop at your quarter real short and then attend to..." began Yukari again, but another voice interrupted her. A voice I knew.

The slurred voice of Suika Ibuki, the ever drunk Oni with the appearance of a little girl.

"He! Yukari, ish tha' ya? Who'ya talkin' ta, gap hag?"

Yukari let out a shriek and froze up, her eyes wide. Before I could ask why she looked like that, even though it was obviously because she wanted to hide us until the great moment, a gap opened up in front of us and swallowed us.

Instead of ending up in Yukari's gap world, though, I suddenly felt a great heat all around me, a dimly lit area with something glowing far beneath us...

We had ended up in an active volcano.

"What the f...!" I heard Rumia scream near me, and I switched from calm and collected to panic. I rose my gaze and looked around, found Rumia and Nanatsu still near me, falling towards the magma below as well. Apparently, we weren't even in Gensokyo anymore, because when I tried to fly like I could in Gensokyo, it didn't work.

Acting on instinct, I reached for Nanatsu and managed to lay an arm around her, then rolled into the other direction to grab Rumia.

The Angel of Death caught on pretty quickly and nodded, rolled over my back and laid her arms around me and Nanatsu. The heat increased as we neared the magma, I heard Nanatsu growl aside me. I hissed as well... And then, suddenly, we slowed down.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Rumia had extended her scarlet, energy-like wings... It's hard to believe since they are only made of energy and they can't allow her to fly, but they actually work similar to wings... They allow her to slow down her fall.

But we weren't safe yet.

"Bring us over to the wall!" I bellowed over my shoulder, and Rumia nodded. She was panting already, which was not really a surprise since she had to carry both me and Nanatsu. She leaned to the right and we neared the wall of the crater, and I already prepared for my part of our survival.

Since my left arm was still wrapped tightly around Nanatsu and prevented me form using it that way, I rose my right hand to my mouth and bit down on my index finger, then yanked my head away from my hand while I moved it down, taking off the glove that way. Glaring up with the glove still hanging in between my teeth, I saw that we were close to the wall and began to charge my bone hand with green energy.

"Hold on, this is going to get rough!" I snarled around the glove, then pushed my fist forward. And as my hand, charged with the unstable negative energy, impacted with the wall, it exploded.

We were thrown backwards into the air, away from the wall, but Rumia still managed to hold onto both me and Nanatsu and corrected our course, allowing us to glide towards the spot where I had punched the wall. A large hole in the wall allowed us to land finally... And I can't say that I ever felt more glad that my feet touched the ground.

The moment that Rumia let go of us, I collapsed onto all fours and let out a loud growl, followed by a sigh. Nanatsu repeated that action pretty much, while Rumia just leaned her back against the wall and let out a relieved sigh.

"I'm going to kill Yukari!" snarled the Angel of Death and rose a fist into the air, shaking it in her anger. I opened my mouth and let the glove fall down next to my bony hand, then took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"And that's what you get when you teleport someone while you get scared. Urgh!" I growled as I picked up the glove to put it back on and glared back into the crater, the secure death that we had just saved ourselves from.

"I hope she better knows where she sent us or I'll show her exactly where she sent us!" declared Rumia and pushed herself up with the help of the wall. I rolled my neck and pushed myself up as well, just as a gap opened next to us. To say that we were not pleased at that was an understatement, but we still entered the gap, only to find ourselves in a pretty comfortable room.

Sure, the walls were a pretty annoying and blank gray, but the room was otherwise furnished pretty neatly. A comfortable couch stood on one side of the room, a few white Chinese lanterns hung from the ceiling and illuminated the room along with an oil lantern in the middle of the room, and three futons lay on the far side of it. A few desks and cupboards were scattered throughout the room, and a table with six stools was right aside me.

Yeah, living here for a week would be acceptable.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Suika just didn't want to stop talking and I chose the opportunity to drop by the fourth judge as well. I spoke to it just now, and it accepted. Leaving that topic aside... This is your quarter." began Yukari, ignoring the whole incident with the misdirected gap on purpose, "We tried to make it as comfortable as it could be."

"Okay, spill it Yukari... Where did you steal this arena from?" I sighed, deciding to ignore the incident with the misdirected gap as well. It made no sense to hold a grudge against Yukari for that now. But, I'd not forget it, and she'd get her punishment eventually. Nanatsu and Rumia seemed to feel the same way, as they both finally relaxed.

"What do you mean? I didn't steal the arena anywhere!" complained the Sukima with a glare, "We build it with the help of everyone. I admit that I may have gapped a few materials from the outside world in here, and maybe had a peek at some rather secret blueprints here and there, but I didn't steal the building! Do you know how much attention that would attract!"

Okay, I had overreacted this time, I guess. She was right, it would attract attention. And besides, I doubt that humans would build such a thing...

A sudden, loud fanfare surprised all of us. While Nanatsu flinched madly, I turned to glance towards the door and frowned.

"The tournament is about to begin. Are you three ready?" smiled the Sukima with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and we nodded.

"Then... Please follow me. The eight teams will be announced one after another and will enter from eight different entrances... I just opened gaps for them that lead to their respective entrance. And you should go as well..." chuckled Yukari in amusement, right before she opened a gap next to her.

Another gap... Hopefully the last one I'd see today.

* * *

_Outside the arena, a few minutes earlier..._

"Hep!" exclaimed the young Angel of Death as she jumped out of the gap and landed on the green grass. Her half-sister followed her with a much more reserved leap, rather a long step than a jump. Yajû rose to her full height, towering a little above her older sister by five centimeters, and rolled her neck.

"So... Where's that arena now?" asked the younger half-sister and glanced at her black-haired counterpart. Yume didn't reply, not verbally, and instead just pointed past the dark blonde Angel of Death. Turning around, Yajû frowned at the large building that towered above her, but the frown quickly turned into a mischievous smirk.

"Excellent." smirked the young Angel of Death and gestured her older half-sister to follow, which the shy Shinigami did without a question. As long as she could hide behind her sister who would do all the talking, she did so without a question.

Following her half-sister to the entrance of the large building, Yume was the first one to spot the two tall Youkai by the entrance. One of them did sport a pair of tall, black wings and was wearing a silver armor, the other one didn't have the need to carry any armor due to it's bulky and muscular appearance and the two pointy, curved black horns on it's sides that curled around her chest, pointing dangerously at the two young girls.

"Halt." spoke the bulky Youkai, looking even taller than before, towering with at least it's 2 meters above the girls. While Yume immediately hid behind her younger sister, Yajû was merely frowning at the Youkai before her and silently wondered if it was male or female.

"What's the problem? Wanna pick a fight?" chuckled Yajû playfully, only to feel her older sister cringe against her back.

"Lil' girl, I'd rather not pick a fight. And I'm sure you'd neither... Or are you really that stupid to fight an Oni and a Hell raven?" asked the bulky Youkai, revealing itself to be an Oni, and guessing from the voice, a female after all, even though she didn't look a lot like it.

"Hm... I never fought any of those before... Did you, Yume? What do you think, can we take them on, two on two?" asked Yajû over her shoulder, causing her older sister to cringe yet again. The Oni and the Hell raven frowned at one another, then both leaned a bit to the side to spot the other girl.

"Ah, another one!" exclaimed the Oni in surprise, causing Yajû to roll her eyes at the Oni.

"Obviously. Now, jokes aside... Why can't we go in? That's why you stopped us, right?" asked Yajû and rose an eyebrow at the two guards, not once abandoning the playful smile on her lips.

"Do you carry an invitation?" asked the female Hell raven, tilting her head a little, the light-brown hair of hers falling past her shoulders. This question actually caused Yajû to lose her smile and turned it back into a heavy frown.

"Invitations?"

"If you do not carry one of the invitations that Yukari Yakumo has given to everyone, we must assume that you are among those lower class Yurei and Youkai without a name that were not invited." spoke the Hell raven merely and crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"What?! But Yukari just dropped us off here!" complained the Angel of Death in anger, only for the Hell raven to shake her head.

"Everyone could say that. I'm sorry, but no invitation means no entrance." huffed the Oni and rolled her shoulders. And even though Yajû would never admit it, she was intimidated by that. Her opponent wasn't just a human this time, it was an Oni... And, as Yajû had never fought a single Youkai to begin with, she couldn't know the strength of an average Youkai, even less that of one of the strongest kinds of Youkai existing, Oni.

The fact that she had no powers on her own made nothing better. Sure, she had the usual Youkai abilities like enhanced physical abilities, but nothing else. And her half-sister certainly wasn't going to fight if it could be avoided. She'd just accept the fact that they wouldn't get in.

And so, Yajû silently prepared herself for the fight that she saw as inevitable.

However, it never came to that fight.

"What do my eyes see here?" asked a playful voice from behind the girls, right before it continued in a harsh, venomous tone, "Are you seriously going to deny my nieces entrance to the arena?"

Both guards froze, the pure horror on their faces as they stared past the girls. Yajû's frown increased and she turned around, following the gaze of the guards to the source of the voice they had heard.

"L-Lady Scarlet!" exclaimed both guards as they quickly dusted themselves off to make themselves as presentable as possible.

Yajû and Yume, meanwhile, examined the small group that was approaching them. At the front were two young women that were both about Yume's height, one of them with gray-greenish hair and the other one with blonde. They were followed by four women that each were taller than Yajû and Yume.

The woman that first caught Yume's eyes was a redhead in a green, Chinese clothing. She seemed to radiate a lot of friendly warmth, certainly seemed like a nice person to be around; but also radiated strength. The woman aside her, almost an entire head smaller than her even though she was tall to begin with, was a silver-haired maid in a French Maid's outfit. Interestingly, her arms were covered in tight bandages from the elbow down to her wrist, something that confused Yume a little.

Yajû had meanwhile examined the other two women of the four, who both displayed animalistic features. The first of them seemed to be some kind of cat Youkai, as she had two cat ears in her fiery red hair. The other one, way taller than her, seemed to be some kind of crow or raven... Possibly a Hell raven like one of the guards was. She had the same black wings as the other Hell raven, but hers were way bigger and had some kind of cape thrown over them.

Behind those four women walked another two... Both young in their appearance and about Yajû's height, one with short, pale blue hair and the other one with short, purple hair.

It had obviously been the one with the pale blue hair who had addressed the guards before. And guessing from the bat wings on her back, she was a vampire. No wonder the guards were intimidated.

"Lady Scarlet, we did not know that it were your nieces! We are terribly sorry!" exclaimed the Hell raven guard and quickly stepped away from the entrance to allow the group to enter. The Oni did the same and even bowed as the first two young women entered the arena without the rest.

"I'll be with Imouto-sama." spoke the maid with a curt bow and a glance towards the pale blue haired beauty, then followed the two women inside.

"I'll follow them as well." added the woman with the cat ears as she followed, leaving the remaining four women outside the arena with the Gekido Sisters and the guards.

"I didn't know that Lady Scarlet had siblings other than Flandre-sama." muttered the Oni towards the Hell raven guard, which just shrugged in return. The Gekido Sisters barely paid them any mind, though. While Yume desperately tried to attract as little attention as possible, Yajû was interested as to who this 'Lady Scarlet' was.

"Utsuho-sama!" exclaimed the Hell raven guard as the tall woman with the black wings and the cape approached her, "No one has come in that wasn't allowed to!"

"Hey, Yume... Did you hear that? Her name is Utsuho... Hasn't Dad mentioned an Utsuho once?" muttered Yajû over her shoulder. Her older sister nodded gently.

"Not only once, Yajû... She's the one that locked and unlocked Dad's memories by accident." replied Yume under her breath, and Yajû nodded in return, remembering the tale. And then, Yajû's gaze traveled back to the young woman with pale blue hair, which had approached them by now and was examining them with her deep red eyes.

"Meiling... Have a look at this." giggled the one they had addressed as 'Lady Scarlet' as she glanced over to the one in green. The woman with the scarlet hair and the green clothing nodded and smiled knowingly as she examined the Gekido Sisters as well.

"The resemblance is incredible... You certainly have a sharp eye, milady. They are without a doubt your nieces." chuckled the Chinese woman. This, of course, confused both of the Gekido Sisters. Both of them knew that Rumia and Yukari were half-sisters, much like them... But another aunt? And one named 'Scarlet'?

The one referred to as 'Lady Scarlet', the young woman with the pale blue hair, stalked past the Gekido Sisters and entered the arena, only to stop the moment that she was inside. She glanced over her right shoulder, her gaze immediately on the Gekido Sisters again, and smirked sinisterly.

"Aren't you going to come along? We've got special seats..." snickered the vampire, just before she turned away and vanished into the arena, the other young woman with the purple hair right aside her.

"Utsuho, Meiling.", she called over her shoulder, and both of the other women nodded. While the Hell raven followed the woman with the purple hair, the Chinese woman stopped and smiled at the Gekido Sisters for a short moment, only to follow her companions.

Yajû glanced at her half-sister, Yume nodded shortly, and then, the two Gekido Sisters followed the Chinese woman into the arena.

Whoever she was and whatever connection she and that 'Lady Scarlet' had to their parents... The two of them were going to find out.

And besides, they couldn't just deny the invitation, could they?

* * *

Even though Yukari had told them to follow the other visitors, Yajû and Yume did not. Having caught up to the Chinese woman, which was apparently named Meiling, they followed her away from the remaining visitors, some sending them confused glances.

Leading them through an entirely different corridor than the remaining visitors, the Gekido Sisters soon followed the Chinese woman up a flight of stairs, and as they did, voices that had formerly been far away finally became louder and louder, soon an obnoxious mess of voices.

As they reached the top of the stairs, the corridor changed into an open room, and the Gekido Sisters found themselves at the top of a gigantic hall filled to the brim with all kind of mythical beings. Several stories full of visitors surrounded the large, rectangular stone platform in the middle of the hall, obviously the battlefield on which the tournament's fights would soon take place.

Meiling led them past the last row of seats, silently smirking to herself as the girls followed her past all kinds of Youkai, fairies and humans. As she reached the end of the row, Meiling turned left and descended a small flight of stairs, only to turn right and enter another corridor, where she greeted the Hell raven that Yajû and Yume had seen earlier, Utsuho.

"Yo, Okuu! The tournament is about to begin... We shouldn't waste too much time in the lounge and find Yukari Yakumo. She should be waiting for us already. Are the ladies in the lounge?" asked Meiling, and the Hell raven nodded with a big, warm smile that seemed to reflect that of Meiling.

"They are. I'll be heading down already, please don't take too long, alright? We don't want to slow things down, do we?" smiled Utsuho in return, walked past Meiling and patted the scarlet haired woman on the shoulder, an action that Meiling reflected.

The sisters stepped aside to make some space for the tall Hell raven and watched her leave, then turned back to Meiling and found the Chinese woman already stepping into the room that Utsuho had been in front of. Following her inside quickly, the two were actually surprised at the sight before them.

Standing in a large dome of glass that hung on one side of the arena, they had a perfect view onto the battlefield below. A red carpet decorated the floor of what appeared to be the lounge that Meiling and Utsuho had spoken of, a table with a large amount of colorful drinks stood on the far side of the room, and four 'thrones' stood opposed to the large glass wall that allowed the perfect sight on the battlefield.

All in all, the lounge seemed to be pretty classy and very fitting for one that was called 'Lady Scarlet' by guards... And this young woman. the vampire with the pale blue hair, was their aunt? Very unlikely, and yet strangely appealing...

"Ah, I see you followed my invitation! Very well..." smirked the vampire that sat on the largest throne and waved her hand into the direction of the table with the colorful drinks, "Please pick one, and then we shall talk... I'll warn you beforehand, though... Avoid the liquids that have tinge of red swirling within them. At least as long as you don't cherish human blood like I do..."

While Yajû still found this woman that claimed be their aunt interesting, Yume still had her doubts. Lady Scarlet seemed to be pretty nice so far, but mysterious at the same time, her seducing, soft voice purring silent invitations. To what, she didn't know, though.

Yajû moved unexpectedly and went for the table that Lady Scarlet had gestured to, causing Yume to follow her quickly and silently, like a shadow followed it's owner in perfect silence. Something that did not go unnoticed by Lady Scarlet and the other women in the room.

Yume glanced from Lady Scarlet to the young woman with purple hair that sat in a throne that was just as tall and just as impressing and intimidating as that of Lady Scarlet, without a doubt meaning that she was equal in terms of power and royalty to the very mysterious Lady Scarlet.

The woman with the cat ears was not present, but instead, a cat that looked awfully similar sat on the purple haired woman's lap. Yume knew immediately that it was just another form of the woman with the cat ears... A Cat Youkai.

The remaining two girls; the two with the gray-greenish hair and the one with the blonde hair, both just as tall as Yume herself, sat on the remaining two thrones, smaller than those of Lady Scarlet and the purple haired woman. They seemed to be in some kind of relation to Lady Scarlet and the purple haired women aside her... Especially the fact that both the purple haired girl and the gray-greenish haired one had some kind of floating eye in front of their hearts added proof to that suspicion of Yume.

The maid with the silver hair that Yume had seen earlier was present as well, stood aside the throne of Lady Scarlet, her eyes closed and her small smile revealing just how content she was with everything. Even without knowing her, Yume could tell that she lived to serve Lady Scarlet, something that obviously went past Yajû.

Yajû had never cared for the details, something that Yume couldn't help but do.

It could be due to their different species; Angel of Death being known for being messy and unreasonable beings that bowed their heads to no one but the Yama and a very small amount of persons that they chose, while Shinigami were known to be unexpectedly reasonable and orderly; perfectionists per se (the greatest exception being Komachi Onozuka, who still showed that side sometimes).

That was something she could think about another time, though. For now, the matter of who this Lady Scarlet really was and in what connection she stood to Yume and Yajû, was of greater importance.

"I'll take this one!" exclaimed Yajû and snatched one of the glasses, the liquid inside of a blue color that caused Yume to frown slightly. She herself decided against taking any of the liquids, suspicious of what they were and afraid that she'll accidentally take one with human blood inside.

"Hm... Very well. Please step closer..." smiled Lady Scarlet and gestured for the sisters to come closer. Yajû, feeling like she was part of this royalty, stalked over to the throne and smirked to herself in triumph... Yume, however, remained distant to such a thing, and merely stepped closer to Lady Scarlet, even though cautious.

"I believe it is time to introduce myself properly... Sakuya, would you be so kind?" spoke Lady Scarlet as she turned to her maid. The maid with the silver hair, apparently called Sakuya, nodded and bowed, then turned to the two Gekido Sisters.

"May I introduce you to Lady Remilia Scarlet, owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and a descendant of the legendary Dracul Vlad Tepes himself? Do not speak her name with disdain, or you shall take your last breath very soon, as she is one of the most powerful beings in Gensokyo." introduced Sakuya the one that they had all just called 'Lady Scarlet' so far.

And this, of course, made Yajû smirk in excitement, and Yume flinch in shock and fear.

"Oh please, Sakuya, don't scare my nieces like that... They have nothing to fear. Remember, my dear brother didn't always say my name without negative emotions as well, and he is still alive. These two young girls are proof enough for that." chuckled Remilia Scarlet and glanced towards Yume and Yajû, narrowing her eyes in amusement.

"One that is the daughter of Rumia Shisô, the Angel of Death that even I cannot deny being slightly intimidated by... You certainly have an interesting taste when it comes to it." whispered the noble vampire as she glanced at the blue liquid in Yajû's glass, and especially the slight tint of violet in it's middle.

Yajû, in return, just mockingly raised her glass and smirked. She wasn't afraid of Lady Remilia Scarlet in the slightest, and less intimidated by her. But she couldn't deny that she had already taken a liking to her.

"I have a rather... 'special' taste." snickered Yajû to herself and raised the glass to her lips, downing half of it's contents in single gulp.

"That, I do see." agreed Remilia with a curt nod, before she glanced towards her maid again, "Sakuya, would you please be so kind to introduce the rest of my family to them? And please do not forget yourself and Meiling..."

"Milady is too kind, seeing such as my wife and me as one of your family." spoke Sakuya in return and bowed, a move that was mimicked by Meiling, who had taken her position at the side of Sakuya. Sakuya rose from her bow eventually, shared a short smile with the purple haired woman aside Remilia Scarlet, and then turned to Yajû and Yume again.

"The woman aside Milady is her wife. Milady's wife is Satori Scarlet, born Komeiji, the only other noble family in Gensokyo aside that of the ex-princess of the moon, Kaguya Houraisan, and the head of the Taoists, Toyosatomimi no Miko. As her name may or may not suggest, Satori Scarlet is a Youkai known as 'satori', Youkai that know the mind like no one else does." continued the maid the introduction.

Satori Scarlet was a woman slightly taller than Yajû and slightly taller than Remilia, the expression on her pale face one of indifference... This seemed to be the expression that she carried upon inspecting something, changing once she felt an emotion. For some reason, this reminded Yume of her own father, or at least the stories she had heard about his past of indifference; of being a nihilist.

The red orb that hovered in front of her heart, attached to her body by several strings, seemed to be some kind of third eye... Or, at least, an eyeball was staring at her from within that orb. Then again, as far as Yume knew, the species 'satori' was supposed to have a third eye...

Her eyes shifted to the other satori in the room. That's what the gray-greenish haired one was, right? She had that third eye as well... Only was hers looking a little... strange. The tired looking eye seemed to have taken some damage in the past, red veins were visible on the white part of the eyeball and it was constantly narrowed as it glanced lazily around, stopping ever so often on a person.

"Yes, Yume Gekido, that is my sister, Koishi Komeiji." spoke Satori all of sudden, a soft smile gracing her lips, "And... When she was younger, she was afraid that she'd become avoided like me... Shunned by everyone but animals because of our ability to read the heart and the mind of a being. So she closed her third eye, lost her ability to read the mind... And closed her heart, lost the ability to feel anything but what she subconsciously did."

Satori rose from her throne, the Cat Youkai jumping off her lap and slipping out of the room quietly, and let out a deep sigh. Everyone's attention was on her now as she stepped past Yume and Yajû and up to the wall made of glass. Remilia smiled and leaned onto her hand, her gaze switching between her wife and the Gekido Sisters.

"That is... Until she met Remilia's little sister, Flandre." continued Satori, then turned to look over her shoulder at the blonde girl that had earlier entered the arena with the girl that Yume now knew as Koishi Komeiji. It was the first time that Yume took a good glance at the blonde, and the first time that she noticed the odd wings on her back... If those were wings, that was.

Two rods protruded from her back, and though they looked like they were made of iron, Yume noticed upon closer inspection that they were made of bone, covered in a thin layer of black skin... All that remained of her wings, as it seemed. Instead, several colorful crystals hung from the bones.

So that was Flandre, Remilia's younger sister...

"Koishi was unable to experience any emotions different than carelessness and happiness... until she met Flandre." repeated Satori and shared a soft smile with the younger sister of her wife, "Their meeting must have been fated... The destructive, emotionally unstable Flandre met the cheery Koishi that couldn't feel anything else."

Flandre and Koishi shared a glance at that and Remilia rose from her throne to step up to Satori.

"Even though they got along, there was something in the way of their friendship, a two-sided barrier that they couldn't cross... Flandre feared to hurt Koishi in her insanity... and Koishi wanted to share Flandre's pain, but found herself unable to do so because of her closed heart." added the older Komeiji Sister and turned to the window again.

"But born from the wish to be with each other, Flandre managed to fight against her insane side, managed to keep the insanity locked away in her head; and Koishi managed to reopen her heart... And with that, her third eye. But she didn't regain the ability to read minds. She remained with her ability to manipulate the subconsciousness. But her third eye had already suffered damage, had never been supposed to close forever in the first place, and looked like you see it now." finished Satori.

And then, it was silent. No introductions from the maid anymore; the introductions long forgotten. No questions or comments from Remilia Scarlet, none from Satori. Each of the girls was smiling, even Koishi herself, leaving Yajû and Yume to question the real weight of the story.

"A sad little tale with a good end." commented Meiling with a big smile, once again radiating that motherly warmth.

"I'd say." huffed Yajû and began to smirk in her usual way. Remilia regarded that with a nod, and the younger sisters with smiles.

It was that moment that a sudden fanfare caught both of the Gekido Sisters off guard and caused both of them to flinch. The others in the room began to laugh at the surprised Gekido Sisters, before turning to look out the large window towards the battlefield.

"It's starting, Onee-sama." stated Flandre and rose from her seat, "We should prepare." This, as well, was regarded by Remilia with a nod, so she turned back to the Gekido Sisters.

"I'm sorry that we have to cut this off at this point, but we shall spend some time together once this all is over, my nieces." spoke Remilia and smiled, "But at least introduce yourselves before I take my leave now."

Yajû and Yume shared a glance at that, but then nodded.

"We have a question, though..." began Yume, which Yajû then completed, "Are you really Dad's sister? He never spoke about one."

Remilia frowned shortly at this, but then laughed.

"Chôzen and I are not related by blood. However, we have come to accept ourselves as siblings at heart... So please excuse me if I see you as my nieces, though I am not actually your aunt. But what is relation by blood when it comes to relation of the soul?" laughed the older vampire sister cheekily.

The Gekido Sisters exchanged another frown, though both silently had to admit that neither of them was surprised by this. Figures that a Youkai that was just a Youkai (1) would not be related by blood to a vampire. Yajû smirked eventually at her older sister, then turned towards Remilia.

"Yajû Gekido-Shisô... Like you deduced correctly, daughter of Chôzen Gekido and Rumia Shisô." grinned Yajû and crossed her arms under her chest.

"And I'm... Y-Yume Gekido. Nanatsu no Taizai is my mother." added the older Gekido Sister, immediately blushing madly due to being shy.

"The wild beast and the dream... How very fitting." commented an almost emotionless voice from a dark alcove right next to the door the girls had entered through, scaring both Yajû and Yume.

Glancing over to the alcove they had noticed just now, the half-sisters learned that there were two more people in the room, both sitting by a table in the dimly lit alcove, reading books that they had apparently taken from the bookshelves above the bench they sat on.

One of them was a pale woman with long, purple hair in what appeared to be, to be blunt, her pajama. The other woman had long red hair, wore a black dress, and had two pairs of black demonic wings; one on her back, and one on her head.

It had apparently been the one in the pajama who had spoken, as she was the one which eventually tore her gaze away from her book and glanced over to the remaining people in the room, just as the lights in the arena began to dim.

"Without a doubt the offspring of no one else but Chôzen Gekido. You both remind a lot of your father." spoke the woman with the purple hair and examined both Yajû and Yume intently, not a single emotion gracing her face or voice.

"Indeed they do, do they not, Patche?" chuckled Remilia, then nodded into the direction of Sakuya, "It seems one more introduction is in order." The maid nodded at that and bowed, then turned to the Gekido Sisters again.

"This is Patchouli Knowledge, Milady's old friend. She inhabits Voile, a magic library in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and acts as it's librarian. The succubus you see aside her is Koakuma, her personal servant." introduced the maid, before turning to the two people in question, "Is everything to your liking, Lady Patchouli?"

The woman with the purple hair, Patchouli Knowledge, nodded in return and eventually turned back to her book before she finally answered.

"Everything is fine, Sakuya. I do not need your services right now... Besides, I have Koakuma here in case that I should be in need of something. You should focus on the tournament rather than me... I have to say, though, you've become quite restless ever since the change. You're always full of energy." murmured the librarian before drifting off into her thoughts.

"Yajû, Yume... I'll be leaving you in Patche's care once the tournament has begun. That is, unless you have to go somewhere...?" smiled Remilia, turning the attention back to her. Both Gekido Sisters denied that, though, with a shake of their heads, and Remilia nodded.

"Very well. Once the tournament has begun for real, you'll remain with Patche and Koakuma, but you shouldn't remain alone for too long... We're expecting some last people, so to speak. And we'll save the remaining introductions for a later time as well." spoke the older Scarlet at last, then gestured everyone to be silent, leaving no room for questions.

But her gesture had a good reason. The lights in the arena had dimmed already, only a series of green will-o-wisps hovered above the battlefield, covering it in an eerie, soft light. The loud murmuring in the arena had come to a sudden stop, everyone's attention was on the battlefield now.

Yume heard the door open and glanced into the general direction of the door. Three people had entered the room, all of them girls. Before the girl with the eyes like mirrors could ask something, though, her excited half-sister tugged on her sleeve and pointed down to the battlefield; or rather above it.

Hanging from a rope was a single bucket, more and more of the will-o-wisps pouring out of it, flying over the head of the visitors, creating an interesting play of lights that darted through the entire arena. The fanfare was playing again, became louder and louder.

Yume had noticed it earlier when they had followed Meiling, and now it caught her eye again: Though her parents had mentioned that Gensokyo wasn't exactly technically developed (with only Kappa, Tengu and Eientei caring for such a thing), there were huge speakers attached to the upper corners of the room, apparently the source of the fanfare that had played before.

For some reason, Yume knew that Yukari was involved into this. Somehow.

A loud beat had begun to play, the tension growing as the will-o-wisps flashed and the beat increased it's speed. Yajû was overly excited, a spark in her eyes as she followed the events with the biggest grin that Yume had ever seen.

And then, suddenly, a loud bang a bright flash, and all of the will-o-wisps hurried back to bucket they had come from, a green haired girl peeking over it's brim now.

"Ah, I see... They used Kisume! I should've known!" giggled Koishi as she spotted the Bucket Youkai, "Her ability is to drop will-o-wisps, after all!"

Before another comment could be made, the last will-o-wisp disappeared into Kisume's bucket again and she vanished into her bucket herself, which was then pulled up into the air, away from the battlefield just as a bright light illuminated the battlefield and a gap opened.

Yukari Yakumo had arrived. But she wasn't the only one who had made her way down to the battlefield.

Four people were walking down a flight of stairs. Neither Yajû nor Yume knew them, save for one, the one that walked at the back. Yukari didn't do anything until these four had moved over to a small balcony right aside the battlefield, four seats on it, and had taken their respective seat there behind a table.

Yume noticed Shikieiki Yamaxanadu walking next to the battlefield, glancing from Yukari to the five doors that surrounded the battlefield. It was obvious that Shikieiki was, like she had told the Gekido Family, observing everything in silence. Yume's fellow Shinigami, Komachi, would be around as well, and so would Minoue be. Probably somewhere among the visitors, but they would be around.

"Who are those four?" asked Yajû with a frown, turning the attention in the room back to her.

"I don't know much about those, but those four are Aya Shameimaru, Gensokyo's local reporter; Akyuu no Hieda, Gensokyo's historian; Rinnosuke Morichika, a half-youkai that sells goods from the outside world... And I don't remember the name of the last one. I haven't seen him in a while." spoke Meiling, frowning at the young Angel of Death.

"Sly. That's what he calls himself, I believe." commented Yume silently, "But why is he a judge? Wasn't he imprisoned in Higan for the last twenty years...? So how's he one of the judges...? That's what those four are, right? They are the judges..."

"I guess they are..." murmured Satori silently, her expression once more indifferent.

_~ Music cue: Mami Kawada - Joint ~_

Suddenly, loud music blared out of the speakers and Yukari began to smile at the judges.

"Gensokyo! Welcome to this year's fighting tournament! Most of you have been here last year, when this tournament was hosted by the Moriya Shrine, but this year, it is my turn! I am happy to say, though, that I had my fair share of help from the Moriya Shrine this year as well... Especially Kanako Yasaka, who helped with most of the precautions this year." exclaimed Yukari, her voice louder than the music. It was obvious that she had meddled with another barrier for that to happen.

"Most of you should know how this works, but let me repeat the procedure real quick before we move on to the introductions. We'll start off with the introduction of our judges, then with the teams, and then determine who is going to fight whom in the first round! That will happen entirely random, though... Nothing is set up, nothing is planned." continued the Sukima.

"Whoever is going to lose their fight will be kicked out of the tournament, and with that, their way to the finale. Those who have lost in round one will later have a chance to fight for the fifth place, those who lost in round two will fight for the third place... And those who won in both round one and two, will fight against each other in round three, the finale." explained Yukari and began to walk along the battlefield's side, her gaze trailing through the audience.

"Those who have won the finale are going to face the champions of the last year. And only if they'll win against them, they can be called the new champions." smirked Yukari, stopped in her steps, and then bowed mockingly, "But let us move onto the introductions."

"I am your host for this week... Yukari Yakumo."

Several visitors began to cheer, the women in the Scarlet lounge began to clap, Yajû cheered loudly, and Yume found herself applauding as well. The tournament promised to become quite interesting if things would really go the way Yukari had just announced them.

"As for our judges... We all know her, we all fear her... The tengu Aya Shameimaru, Gensokyo's local reporter." began the Sukima and gestured into the direction of the black-haired judge, just as a crow sat down on her shoulder.

"Then, of course, the human girl who knows death better than anyone does! Her memories go way back, she enjoyed eight lifetimes of our beautiful Gensokyo... Of course I am talking about our historian, Akyuu no Hieda, the child of Miare."

The moment that Yukari stopped, loud cheers followed from one side of the arena, apparently the spot where most of the humans had gathered. Yukari regarded this with a nod, then moved on to the next judge.

"Rinnosuke Morichika takes this year's spot of the third judge. Being a half-youkai that runs the antique shop Kourindo on the verge of the Forest of Magic, he is well known among Youkai and human, I believe." smiled Yukari, sending Rinnosuke a warm smile. The male nodded, then frowned as the other male aside him nudged him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Popular with the girls, aren'tcha?" snickered the other male, causing Rinnosuke to smile softly.

"And with that, we come to the small surprise in the ranks of our judges... He was well known twenty years ago, but how many do really remember him? I'm talking about our sun in the middle of the late evening, the mischievous man that gathers rumors and spreads them... I'm referring to our dear, deceiving Sly." snickered Yukari and smirked at the male in question.

While everyone's attention was now resting on Yukari and Sly, Yume had glanced over to Shikieiki Yamaxanadu. It had been just a hunch, just a short feeling that she had to look there... Well, it was a good thing that she did.

For some reason, Shikieiki's face was distorted into a deep frown, an expression of suppressed, seething anger. Shikieiki hated Sly for some reason, and Yume couldn't help but wonder why. Whatever was in between those two, it had gone on for years and had triggered a deep hatred in Shikieiki for Sly.

It was the first time that Yume should ask herself the same question that her father had asked himself already so often: Who was this Sly, and how was he involved into all of this? Was he just a cunning individual that randomly got pulled into things, or was he always involved on purpose?

How exactly was he just a man that loved to manipulate?

"I myself went to pursue him to be our fourth judge... It wasn't until today that I got the chance to ask him. But that doesn't matter, because he is now here. Maybe a little worn down, but still the same old Sly." sniggered the Sukima no Youkai before she turned back to the audience.

"These four will be our judges for this year's tournament, and I have faith in their abilities. Of course, they'll also comment the fights, something that you've all enjoyed last year. And now... We'll move on to the thing you've all been waiting for. Since we asked everybody who was accepted into the tournament to keep quiet about their participation, none of you should know all of the teams. And because of that, we'll introduce them to you." called out the Sukima, raising her voice a little.

As if on cue, the first door opened and the music became louder, Yukari's smirk growing wider at the same time.

"Let's start of with the one that started this all... Of course she's back this time. Last year, she proved that she's not to be taken lightly, leading her team to a surprising seventh place... Please welcome Cirno!" laughed Yukari, but most of her words were drowned out when the audience started cheering upon spotting their favorite ice fairy stepping out of the door.

"Following her like a little shadow, Daiyousei is back in her team. She, too, proved that not all fairies are dumb and weak." continued Yukari just as the greater fairy Daiyousei stepped out of the door after Cirno, "Last year, they had Wriggle Nightbug with them, but the bug had an unfortunate encounter with a sunflower, so she's out this year. Taking her place is Gensokyo's representation of winter, so thank god it's still an early, cold spring! I'm talking about Letty Whiterock, of course!"

As the third member of the team stepped out of the door, it closed behind her. Meanwhile, some amused snorts from the audience implied that Wriggle's encounter with a sunflower, or rather Yuuka Kazami, was already widely known.

"So they'll be our cold team, I guess... Let's hope they'll not be out cold before they know it." commented Sly from the side, causing a few suppressed snorts of amusement from the audience.

"Cirno, you'll be leading this team this year as well. Anything you want to say?" asked Yukari and waved her hand into Cirno's direction, which Yume guessed would make Cirno's voice loud as well. And true enough, as the ice fairy began to speak, her voice was loud and clear.

"Eye hope Wrig' gets better real soon! We'll do our best and hope it will make her feel better!" declared the Ice Fairy, scaring herself with the sudden loud volume of her own voice, which returned to normal as Yukari waved her head again.

"Interesting words. Let me express my concern by saying that I hope that Eirin's medicine has anything left to cure." snickered Yukari, immediately cracking everyone up again.

Yume frowned a little. Whoever they meant with 'sunflower', he or she wasn't sounding nice. And besides... Was Yukari concerned about this 'Wriggle' or was she concerned about the medicine of this 'Eirin'?

"Eye don't get it!" declared Cirno loudly, but no one really paid any attention and regarded her with a chuckle. Everyone but a certain enigma that was still lurking in the darkness, waiting for his moment to come. He had come to accept Cirno as a powerful individual after she had saved him from a crazy Doll Youkai of still unknown origin. (2)

"Anyways, that's our first team, leaded by the one who started this all! Let's hope they'll do their best!" continued Yukari, before she waved her hand and opened the second door that way, "Moving on to the second team, we've got a team that surprises even me just because the three members are just so different!"

Yume observed as three people stepped out of the second door one after another, not even waiting for Yukari to introduce them. And indeed, they already looked pretty different from each other.

"Well, guess we're keeping this short. Coming from the underground of Gensokyo, we have three fighters that couldn't be any different. The Oni that could punch a mountain to dust, ex-deva Yuugi Hoshiguma, is going to lead this team! With eyes like emeralds, Parsee Mizuhashi will take each hit and be jealous it wasn't her own just before she strikes back. And of course, swooping in from above will be our gravity-defying spider queen, Shiho Kumo." chuckled Yukari as she pointed at each of the members.

"Yuugi, what's going through your head right now? Anything to say?" asked the Sukima and waved into the direction of Yuugi. The tall Oni smirked, glanced shortly at Parsee and Shiho, and then smashed her right fist into her left palm.

"We're gonna rock your world for sure!" bellowed the Oni, immediately receiving cheers from all around her.

"We'd expect nothing else from you, Yuugi Hoshiguma." laughed Yukari, then gestured the audience to stop cheering, What do our judges think about this team?"

"Yuugi can rock my world any time." sniggered Sly before any of the other judges could say something, only to receive some glares from his fellow judges, Yukari, and especially from Parsee Mizuhashi... That means, before her glare turned into a nasty smirk.

"Sorry, human, but you're a little too late for that. Jealous of me now, are you?" smirked the bridge princess, actually surprising the ex-barkeeper.

"Ahum, yeah. Let's just... move on to the next team." coughed Yukari uneasily, opening the next door with a wave of her hand.

"Coming from the depths of the old hell, we've got another team, and one that is certainly going to heat things up. If you like explosions, you're going to love this team... With two of Gensokyo's most destructive inhabitants being part of this team, who's going to stop them?" announced the Sukima and glanced over to the door as well.

Stepping out of the door was a hell raven that Yume quickly recognized as Utsuho Reiuji, who they had met earlier. She was followed by a woman that neither of the Gekido Sisters had seen before, but both instantly began to respect due to the intimidating aura she radiated. The last member was the Cat Youkai they had seen earlier, the one with the fiery red hair... So that was where she had wandered off to after leaving the lounge.

"Trying to shine their way into the finale is Utsuho Reiuji, who will be leading this team. Her loyal friend and fellow pet, Rin Kaenbyou, is right behind her like always. And, tagging along, is the master of laser danmaku, the obscured queen herself... Ryoko Jigoku. And if she and Utsuho aren't going to destroy their opponents and the battlefield, I don't know who will!" laughed Yukari Yakumo and quickly hurried over to the newly arrived team.

Ryoko Jigoku had turned away from her teammates and exchanged a nasty smirk with Shiho Kumo. Their rivalry and friendship was going to continue into this tournament, and assured those who knew them that Yukari was right. If not Ryoko Jigoku and Utsuho Reiuji, who was going to cause destruction?

"Utsuho, any words?" asked Yukari as she manipulated the border of silence and volume for Utsuho's voice.

"Unyu? What words?" inquired the hell raven in confusion, causing Yukari to chuckle slightly. Seeing Ryoko wave her hand a little, the Sukima manipulated her voice as well, and the ex-queen of nocturnal Youkai smirked.

"The only words I've got ta say..." began Ryoko and tilted her head a little, "Bring on the enemies! And I dare ya, if any one isn't worth ma' time, I'll give ya more destruction than ya'll want!"

This caused more cheers in the audience, making it obvious just how much they wanted the destruction. Then again, this was a fighting tournament and it would be less interesting without explosions.

"Now that's an interesting promise." laughed Yukari and shook her head. And then, much to everyone's surprise, Yukari grew awfully quiet. Instead of continuing the introduction of the teams, she glanced around in the large hall, scanned the rows... And eventually, her gaze stopped on the Scarlet lounge. More specific, Yajû and Yume.

Her smirk grew wider, her excitement and her amusement increased. And a single glance towards the judges told them everything they needed to know.

Suddenly, Yukari vanished inside one of her gaps, only to reappear behind the judges. She leaned past Sly and Rinnosuke and rested her elbows on the table as she continued to smirk. Everyone in the arena was staring at her as she waved her hand gently. And as she flicked, the fourth door flew open to reveal a dark corridor.

"And now something that I bet neither of you has seen coming." giggled Yukari and twirled a finger around in midair.

"I certainly didn't see them coming, Miss Yakumo, until you told us earlier this afternoon." admitted Akyuu, looking at the boundary-bending Youkai.

"Me neither. Who'd expect him? Well, what'cha saying, Sly, no one sees him comin'!" chuckled the ex-barkeeper, finally regaining his composure after the retort of Parsee.

"I don't know him that well, but I certainly have to agree with you, Sly." added Rinnosuke, a small smile on his lips.

"And of course, you shouldn't forget the two that are always at his side... man, he has a scary taste when it comes to women... but I can't say it is a bad taste." grinned Aya somewhat uneasily, a certain memory stuck in her head.

"Yeah. But still, we are talking about a very interesting entry to our small tournament here... Yukari Yakumo herself had to pursue them to come.", finished Akyuu.

By now, hushed conversations had begun, people wondering who Yukari and the judges were talking about. In the Scarlet lounge, though, no one was conversing, knowing smiles on their lips as their gazes rested on the two girls by the window. They knew very well who Yukari was referring to even before she finally called out the names of the fourth team.

"Here goes! Never has purgatory been as cute before... The walking purgatory of the seven deadly sins, Nanatsu no Taizai! The beautiful shadow of the death itself, Rumia Shisô! And of course, the walking enigma himself, the one that beat Mima twenty years ago... Chôzen Gekido!" echoed Yukari's voice through the arena... and everything suddenly became quiet as three individuals stepped out of the darkness behind the fourth door.

Mixed emotions filled the arena, some had expressions of utter shock or disbelief, others were just frowning as they had never heard of him or the two women at his side. In the Scarlet lounge, however, everyone but three girls were smiling. It were the three girls that had Yume had seen enter when the light show had begun, but neither of them looked familiar, and looked too young to be around at the time of her parent's departure.

At least one of them seemed to be a vampire, or at least she had the characteristic bat wings; one of them seemed to be a satori as she had the characteristic third eye... But the last girl seemed to be pretty much like a human. And it was this girl that caught Yume's interest the most. Mainly because she was the only one that was frowning. The other two pretty much had perfectly indifferent expressions.

The girl in question had short, soft gray to pink hair and tanned skin. She was wearing a black beret and a black uniform that looked pretty much like Meiling's clothes in black, but the star on her beret was white and the traditional Chinese character in it was different from the one on Meiling's golden star.

Interestingly, she wore a black, fingerless glove on her right hand, but none on the left. Furthermore, what immediately caught Yume's eye, was a golden chain from the left chest area of her uniform diagonally across her stomach over to her right side. Upon closer inspection, Yume noticed that this chain was glowing in a soft, rainbow glow. What also seemed off about this girl was her muscular build and her height... She seemed to be no older than Yume, but had already reached Meiling's height and towered over the other girls.

She seemed to work at the Scarlet Devil Mansion as well, since she wore a similar uniform to the one that Meiling wore.

"What's up with everybody? Who are those three?" asked the pink-haired girl in a surprisingly husky tone and scratched her flat chest with her gloved hand.

Yume felt something nudge her in the ribs just that moment, and upon glancing to her half-sister Yajû, she found the young Angel of Death smirking at her.

"She's cute, ain't she? One of those masculine types, I believe. And obviously, she's a tomboy." snickered the Angel of Death silently, obviously referring to the pink-haired girl in black. Yume merely regarded this with a frown into the direction of her sister, before turning back to the window to watch her parents and Rumia, who had now taken their spot right aside the team of Utsuho Reiuji.

"You mean like you, Yajú?" muttered the young Shinigami under her breath, thinking back to the rather boyish behavior of her bold sister. She was the definition of a tomboy, and not that pink-haired gal.

"Ah... You see..." chuckled Meiling, raising her gaze to stare past the pink-haired girl down into the arena, "...those three aren't just some random people."

The pink-haired girl seemed to be fairly confused about that. "So? What makes those three so special? I have never heard of them, nor have I seen them."

Meiling smiled at that, shaking her head.

"You couldn't. You were born after the three of them went into isolation. They needed some distance from Gensokyo after a series of great events regarding Gensokyo and them..." began the scarlet-haired beauty, stepping up to the girl in black.

"Series of events?" asked the pink-haired girl.

"Indeed, Toki." replied Meiling, revealing the name of the pink-haired girl. But the girl named Toki seemed to be even more confused now, which led Yajû to smirk to herself. After all, Toki wouldn't know that the three down in the arena, those that had caused sudden silence, were the Angel of Death's parents.

"Let's just say..." sighed Meiling, "The three of them have dark history... both together, and each of them alone. Nanatsu no Taizai, the black-haired woman at the front, is actually Chôzen Gekido's wife. Rumia Shisô, the other woman, was her rival when it came to Chôzen's love... A series of events unfolded from that, which neither of us really likes to recall."

The pink-haired girl glanced at the woman in green and frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer.

"But you should ask Lady Remilia about that... She knows a lot about him, and is very eager to tell his stories." laughed the scarlet-haired woman, gently nodding into the direction of her mistress. Remilia sent a short, self-satisfied smirk over her left shoulder at the duo with the nearly identical clothes, before stepping up to Yajû and Yume.

"It seems you won't be as alone as we thought. I'll still leave you in Patche's care, as most of us will leave in a moment, but you'll be with Toki, Airisu and Kokoro as it seems. You'll should get along just fine." commented the vampire mistress before turning to her followers, "Satori, Sakuya, please prepare now."

Flandre smirked as she saw how the satori and the maid nodded, before turning to Koishi and Meiling, silently giving them the command to be prepared as well.

"Wait! I still have questions!" complained Toki and stomped on the ground and glared daggers at the woman in green, "Why would Lady Remilia know about this man down in the arena?"

"Lady Remilia is Chôzen's younger sister. At least, they like to be called related, even though they are not by blood. In the past twenty years, Lady Remilia was one of the few to actually try and bring Chôzen back to Gensokyo, against his wish of being left alone.", explained Meiling in a casual tone and rolled her shoulders.

I see..." muttered Toki, turning back to the arena, suddenly growing quiet.

Everyone had become quiet.

"How do we know this is not another one of ya silly shenanigans, Yakumo? These could be fake, just another joke of ya! We all know Gekido left twenty years ago!" shouted Minamitsu Murasa as she suddenly rose to her feet near the battlefield, glaring at the Sukima.

Yukari huffed and was just about to say something when a dark chuckle caused Murasa to flinch. The source of the laugh had been the male in question.

"You don't think I am Chôzen Gekido?" chuckled Chôzen and tilted his head a little. And then, he did something no one expected.

Lifting his right hand onto the height of his chest, it suddenly was ablaze in emerald flames that covered his arm up to the elbow, Chôzen stared down at it, balled his hand to a fist and smirked.

And then, suddenly pumped his fist into the air.

A beam of emerald light was shot into the air and exploded above the arena, tinting the arena in a green light for a few seconds, just before the explosion suddenly seemed to revert to an orb, which was unleashed into a emerald beam downwards and back into his palm.

And as it did, the glove around his right hand began to peel away, dissolved into nothingness like a withering petal carried away by the wind, leaving everyone in awe as the bone hand underneath was exposed to the dim lights of the arena.

Silence had spread again, even Murasa and Yukari stared in disbelief at the male.

And then, nearly everyone began to cheer.

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV:_

It felt good.

That was the only thing that came to my mind.

I didn't care about the excited shouts and yelps, the hushed conversations and the cheering.

I merely watched my own hand, moved the black bones experimentally.

_"It feels good..."_

"Now that this has been resolved, let's have the walking enigma address a few words to us!" exclaimed Yukari as she appeared next to me on the battlefield, finally regaining her voice, "Chôzen, the reason for your sudden return is me. I know I requested you to come back to Gensokyo, but I'm sure you have something to add, right?"

I chuckled at that and looked up from my hand, glanced at Yukari and nodded softly. She waved her hand into my direction, and I knew she was manipulating the border of silence and volume of my voice. I knew she wasn't able to manipulate me directly due to me having no boundaries that would hold me back (aside from the twelve limiters of my body, of course), but she could manipulate the general boundaries of me that applied to everyone, including volume.

"I have only one thing to say, Yukari..." I smirked, my voice way louder than it should be due to Yukari's meddling, and rolled my shoulders, let my gaze trail through the rows of Youkai, human, Yurei and whatever else all around us, "Never, ever, come visit me again in the morning. Next time, I'll shove the damn alarm clock down your throat."

The Sukima seemed dumbfounded at that remark, while the audience was greatly amused at her reaction, though I doubted that most knew what an 'alarm clock' was. Turning away from the baffled Yukari again, I felt my own smirk grow, laid my arms around the shoulders of Nanatsu and Rumia, and began to laugh.

"AND HELLO AGAIN, GENSOKYO! I MISSED YA!"

The cheering immediately grew louder again and I just let the glee take me over. Now I was truly back, and wasn't going to leave again. And, frankly, I was really awaiting to see the changes that Gensokyo and it's inhabitants had gone through.

A sudden, powerful pat on my back almost threw me off my feet, only stopped when Nanatsu and Rumia supported my weight.

"Now that's what I'd call a flashy entrance!" roared Yuugi Hoshiguma and placed a hand on my shoulder. The tall Oni grinned at me, challenging me with that grin, and so I sent an equally challenging grin right back at her.

"Yuugi, it's been a while... But you're just as tall and powerful as I remember you to be." I commented, before I let my gaze trail down Yuugi's body to the green-eyed girl that she had laid an arm around, "And Parsee... Just as jealous as back then, I assume?"

The emerald-eyed bridge princess merely pouted and stuck her tongue out at me, leaving me to snort in amusement. But neither she, nor Yuugi, seemed to have aged a single day. And seeing them like that, I felt just like back then before my departure from Gensokyo... It felt like this was just another friendly visit to the underground.

"Miss Nanatsu." spoke a soft and seductive voice and I allowed myself to glance to my left to find Shiho Kumo in front of my first wife, "I cannot express this feeling of glee that I feel right now. I didn't think that your lovely presence would adorn Gensokyo once again this soon."

"As graceful as ever... I'd expect nothing less from the queen of the arachnoids. Aside flirting with everyone, of course." giggled Nanatsu and shook her head in amusement, to which the queen in question pouted.

"I can't help it! I told you before, we Jorougumo do that all the time..." smiled the childish queen with a soft pout.

"If that isn't ol' Rumia!" exclaimed a dark voice and I turned into the other direction to observe how Ryoko Jigoku approached Rumia and patted the Angel of Death onto the shoulder, "And my ex-student Chôzen Gekido as well!"

I greeted the bold woman that had once taught me how to control laser danmaku with a curt nod, only to turn towards Utsuho to greet her in the same way. Cirno approached me with Letty and Daiyousei in tow, and I greeted them as well.

"Cirno." I eventually smiled and bowed down to be on the same height as the ice fairy that had the size of a regular child, "How have you been doing? I hope you continued to save people from bullies."

Of course, that was a small reference to our last meeting, where she had saved me from the manipulated Nanatsu and the equally manipulated Rumia, as well as the crazy Doll Youkai Kyômi.

"Sure did!" proclaimed the ice fairy and huffed in pride, leaving me to chuckle softly.

"Ah, Chôzen, that chuckle shall be your last for now. Cause now, I have a surprise for you!" exclaimed Yukari the moment that she regained her voice all of sudden, "Because now, I'll introduce the fifth team to everyone!"

The three other teams, Nanatsu, Rumia and I all shut up and frowned at Yukari as the Sukima, which had regained her composure, waved into the direction of the fifth door, returning everyone's attention back to the tournament and it's procedure.

The fifth door swung open to reveal darkness equal to that which Rumia, Nanatsu and I had been in.

"Now, since we have the heroes from back then at our side again, let us welcome their counterparts. And especially because of that, I'll expect some very interesting fights this year." snickered Yukari, just as the first member of the fifth team left the darkness. And I could barely believe my eyes.

"She may not be the one to lead the team, but she definitely has the powers to do so. The creator of Makai, Shinki, will surely show us the divinity of a goddess that has created the world of demons as we know it." exclaimed Yukari, her gaze resting on the white-haired goddess that had left the door.

I couldn't believe my eyes that very moment. It was Shinki. Shinki, goddess of Makai, mother of Alice and her sisters... My adoptive mother. The woman that I had always viewed as the mother I never had; the woman that had willingly taken that spot.

She sent me a soft smile and waved, before she turned to the door she had just left, just as another individual left it and leaned a parasol onto her shoulder. Once again, I could barely believe my own eyes as they laid onto the green-haired woman that smirked sadistically into our direction.

"Tagging along is Yuuka Kazami, the Flower Master of Four Seasons. We've got to expect lots of destruction this year... Not only Utsuho Reiuji, Ryoko Jigoku and Yuugi Hoshiguma are known for the damage they can cause! Ask our dear Wriggle Nightbug once she actually wakes up... Yuuka packs a punch that knocks you into the next century." laughed the Sukima, immediately receiving a glare from the Flower Youkai, which eventually just turned back to us without as much as commenting Yukari's words.

"Oh my, it seems SHE was right after all when she said that she felt your powers in Gensokyo." chuckled Yuuka Kazami as she narrowed her dangerous red eyes at me, then at Rumia, "And Rumi is with him as well! Did you learn to keep quiet about someone else's secret, Rumi, or will I have to knock some sense into you again?"

"Yuuka...!" gasped Rumia and shuddered. True enough, Yuuka had been a little angry with Rumia before our departure, and had apparently learned how to hold a grudge from her wife, but...

Her wife.

Yuuka had married...!

"And leading their team is someone I'd almost refer to as more of a counterpart to Chôzen than I am. Known for her grudge on mankind, which in the end took someone as powerful as Chôzen and the power of the entire Gensokyo to stop it, she has finally settled down among us and has become a valuable member of Gensokyo again, the land that she started in the first place through a sacrifice I have never forgotten. The woman I am talking about is..."

"Mima." I growled and narrowed my eyes at the evil spirit that had just left the door of the fifth team, which closed behind her. She did the same, had already focused her gaze on me the moment that she left the door.

As if old instincts kicked in again, my right arm became ablaze in emerald flames, yet stronger than those had been exactly twenty years ago in my fight against the evil spirit. It was the same moment that Mima's right arm became ablaze in black and yellow flames. Much like my emerald flames were the densest shape of my negative energy, these flames of dark color were the densest shape of Mima's twilight energy.

Gasps filled the arena as Mima and I walked towards one another with serious expressions, the blind hatred from twenty years earlier reborn anew. In perfect unison, we lifted our right arms and reached back, the burning hands balled to fists. I swung my arm forward, channeled all of my grudge towards the evil spirit into the emerald flames, and saw that Mima did the same with her grudge towards me.

And then, our hands met and curled around one another, pale hands sled around black bones, and we pulled each other into a strong hug, our glares turning into nasty smirks as we used our free hands to pat each others back. The moment that our powers collided, they immediately canceled one another, and yet we silently fought with our hands.

We had never abandoned our grudges towards one another, but it was what kept our relationship strong... Grudges were what bonded us, grudges were what made us no different from one another. You could've easily exchanged us for one another... It could've been me all those years ago that would've threatened Gensokyo, and Mima could've been in my place.

If I had to explain my relationship to Mima, I would've said that we were kind of rivals. We hadn't really tried to spend much time together after what had happened between us during that one final fight, even though it hadn't been the last time we had seen each other.

But, even after all that had happened, I knew that nothing would truly change... Mima and I would still try to be better than one another. We'd still try to beat one another. Not to death, mind you. We were rivals, maybe even friends, but certainly not enemies. The same side of a coin, and yet very different from one another. And then again, not.

I guess one could go as far and say that Mima is a female version of me, or maybe the other way around.

And both Mima and I were fine with that.

"Good to see you again." I hissed as my eyes narrowed at the evil spirit.

"Same thing here. I was wondering when you'd come back. Took you longer than I expected." smirked the evil spirit, and finally pulled her hand away. And that was the invitation I had waited for.

In perfect unison, Mima and I jumped away from one another. I set my hands ablaze in emerald flames and held them like claws, a feral side taking over, one that was entirely me, not Insanity. Mima turned her legs into a ghost tail and extended her right arm, a silver glow appearing within her awaiting hand, one that I easily recognized as the arrival of her crescent staff.

We landed on opposite sides of the battlefield, smirked nastily at one another as we already prepared to revive our old rivalry in the most cruel way. I don't know why we did it like that...

Maybe it was because neither of us knew any better. We could express our feelings best by giving into grudges, something that we both did ever so often. In between us, there was no casual "Hey, didn't see you in, like what, nineteen years? How've you been?"

In between Mima and me, this question was asked best with burning fists and sweaty bodies, bloody lips and black eyes.

However, we were not allowed to 'inquire' each other that way, as Yukari Yakumo appeared in between us and used several gaps to trap both me and Mima in between several iron bars that shot out of these gaps, effectively confining us into cages like birds.

"Ah ah ah!" hummed the Sukima, even though she was giving us both an accusing glare, "I fear you have to wait for the tournament. Can't have you fight one another before it actually started, right? So please wait patiently until it is your turn."

Disappointed sighs and complaints echoed from all around, including from some of the other fighters like Yuugi or Ryoko. Guess that those had wanted to see the fight in between me and Mima... Couldn't blame them. I wanted it now, too, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

For some reason, looking back at the final fight against Mima all those years ago didn't seem as unappealing and frightening anymore. I had moved on, and so had Mima...

"I'm going to release you now, and then you calm down, alright?" asked the Sukima with the same accusing glare, before the iron bars slowly retreated and allowed Mima and me to move. Disappointed, I extinguished my burning hands and pushed them into the pockets of my jeans, snorted in chagrin.

Mima wasn't really pleased as well, dismissed her staff and crossed her arms behind her head. We both moved back towards the other fighters, some smirking in amusement at us while others merely frowned.

Mima and I positioned ourselves near them, right next to each other, exchanged an amused glance, and turned our attention back to Yukari as she let out a sigh and grumbled under her breath how 'things were already getting out of hand during the introductions' and that 'she should've known better than to introduce them right after one another'.

"I'm sorry!" called Yukari out to the audience and shrugged, "Things aren't going as planned, but I bet that's why you're here... Because things will be going crazy."

Cheers followed from the audience, causing Yukari to sigh audibly. Mima nudged me into the ribs and we chuckled at one another... Making fun of Yukari was a thing that we both liked to do.

"Now then... We shall move on so we get this finally over with!" exclaimed the Sukima. I frowned as I heard this, glanced around. Five doors floated around the battlefield, and each of them had contained one of the teams that now stood on the battlefield with Yukari. So, if we were eight teams in total, where would the other three come from?

"The sixth entry to our tournament consists of some people we all know quite well... Well, they could be considered to be celebrities here in Gensokyo. And if it weren't for their help and the funds we got from them, it would've never been possible to make this tournament as great as it is today. They were the one who helped, more or less, the most with this project of ours... And this year, they're going to join the rank of fighters." called out Yukari.

She turned into the direction of the only wall in the room that did not add any seats to the arena, yes, was even lacking the space for those. Instead, a gigantic dome of glass protruded from the wall. And it was this dome that opened up at the front to allow three people to step out of it onto a magic flight of stairs that had appeared at the same time, ending right on the battlefield.

And stepping down those stairs were three people.

I easily recognized Sakuya Izayoi. She barely had aged a day, though she had gained a few curves. Back in the day that I had no memory, Sakuya used to look like she was in her late teens, but now, she possessed the body of a woman in her early twenties. And she still wore the same maid's outfit as back then, only with the addition of bandages that curled up her forearms.

I also recognized Satori Komeiji, who looked practically the same as back then, aside from a new set of clothes. She wore a short, Victorian dress of a dark-gray color that suited her a lot, black thigh-highs, had a golden ankle bracelet around her left ankle, and two golden bracelets around her wrists. And not only that, she had grown quite a bit since I had last seen her; now no longer having the body small child but that of a girl in her late teens. Seems she had a growth spurt.

And she wasn't the only one.

It actually took me a few seconds before I recognized my other 'little sister'... It was Remi. Remilia 'Remi' Scarlet. And damn, had she changed. In a sense, at least.

Having hit a growth spurt as it seemed, Remi had grown to the height of Yajû, if not even taller. She looked, much like Satori, like she was now in her late teens, even though she was now well over 520 years old.

She had exchanged her light-pink clothes from back then for a more gothic-styled dress of an even paler shade of pink with the addition of red and black adornments and belts at several locations, the corresponding mob cap on her head with a large red ribbon at the side. The black elbow gloves that covered her arms and left her fingers free, attached to them only by a ring around each of her middle fingers, gave her even more of an elegant and noble appearance than ever before.

"R-Remilia?" I gasped as soon as the vampire stopped next to me, a small smile upon her lips.

"Indeed, dear brother." breathed the vampire with the appearance of a young woman, smiling as she moved her fingers a bit and narrowed her eyes in amusement, obviously because of my bafflement.

"Leading the sixth group of this tournament is Remilia Scarlet, head of the Scarlet family, one of the most powerful people in Gensokyo, the stunning beauty of the night." shouted Yukari aloud, only to mutter under her breath, "Stunning my ass... If she wouldn't have helped so much with the funds, I wouldn't even have said the crap she told me to call her."

Remi rose an eyebrow, glared into the direction of Yukari Yakumo.

"Did you just say something, Yakumo?" asked the vampire.

"No, nothing at all." snorted Yukari in return and just waved a little before she moved on with the introduction, "At her side is her beautiful wife Satori Scarlet, which definitely will give their enemies a hard time with her ability to read minds. And, follo..."

"Woah woah woah, wait a sec!" I shouted in disbelief the moment that my brain had processed the information, "Wife? Like... Wah?! Satori... Scarlet?!"

I didn't care as everyone began to laugh at my utter disbelief as I stared at the two girls that I had seen as little sisters. Satori was smiling softly, Remilia however had a hard time holding back her laughter. Can't blame her.

"Yeah yeah, married and all. Can I continue now or are you going to interrupt me again?" snarled the Sukima. I became irritated, but still nodded. Feeling Mima pat my back, I glanced towards her, and the evil spirit just whispered that we should stop interrupting Yukari or she would never shut up.

Still, the news surprised me. Remilia and Satori... I had seen the attraction between them back then, but never had thought that it would develop into something.

Hearing this now only made me realize again how long twenty years really were, even as a Youkai. We tend to feel a decade as nothing... But upon hearing what happened in the time we did not feel, we come to realize just how long this time really has been.

Sometimes, I wish I had a longer lifespan. The shorter it is, the more do you really feel the time passing by... And the more do you cherish that what you have, the moments that you experience.

"Like I was going to say before I was interrupted so rudely..." began the Sukima no Youkai anew and sent me a dirty glare, "The third member of Remilia Scarlet's team will be Sakuya Izayoi, following her mistresses ever so loyal. And with her, I've got a feeling that they'll give us a fight worth their time."

"Was that a pun, Yakumo?" snorted Mima aside me, causing the one and only Sukima no Youkai to cringe and glare at the evil spirit, "If so, it sucked."

"Any words, Lady Scarlet?" snarled Yukari in between clenched teeth, now apparently holding herself back from leaping right at the evil spirit. Really, we were giving Yukari a hard time finishing the introductions. The worst thing about that, though, and the thing I could only shake my head at, was the fact that I feared that the entire tournament would go that way.

Sorry, let me correct that. I mean that I know that the entire tournament will go that way.

"Only that I am looking forward to this tournament, and hope that everyone will do their best." smiled Remilia, not even trying to hide her amusement at Yukari's now foul mood. I guess, even though I haven't been here in the last twenty years and couldn't be entirely sure (which I strangely am even though I've been absent for so long), that Yukari and Remilia's relationship didn't change at all. They still didn't get along.

"Fair enough." commented Yukari, only to wave into the direction of the magical stairs again, which had not vanished yet, "Then we shall introduce the seventh of eight teams."

From the corner of my eye, I noticed how Reimu came down a flight of stairs with Suika in tow, later one with her arms extended and her eyes closed like a little, overly happy girl. The two of them walked up to the battlefield, but remained there, watching us.

Turning back to the flight of stairs, the magical one that Remilia's team had used earlier, I found myself frowning for the second time.

"Yes, the seventh team certainly resembles the sixth team." laughed Yukari as apparently regained her good mood.

"At the front is another Scarlet, and one that is eager to show her older sister just how it's done properly. Flandre Scarlet is yet another, very destructive addition to this list of fighters. With that, we've got Yuugi, Ryoko, Utsuho and Yuuka... These are not who I mean, though." snickered Yukari, glancing somewhere behind me.

I frowned and followed her glance, turned around in perfect unison with Mima and looked around for whoever Yukari was referring to.

"Hey... Who does she mean?" hissed Mima into my direction as we both glanced around.

"I've got no clue." I responded, my frown increasing as everyone began to laugh. And slowly, I felt like I was missing the joke here. Mima did as well, apparently.

"Hey, Chô..." I heard Nanatsu cough quietly and turned into her direction, "She means you and Mima."

Both Mima and I shared a shocked glance, then coughed and blushed.

_"Woops..."_

_**"Woops alright. And the best thing is that she's completely right."**_

_"What is that supposed to mean?"_

_**"Mugenkan."**_

_"Uhm... Okay, so, I DID destroy Mugenkan a little... But Elly and Kurumi weren't exactly innocent. And besides, what did Mima dest..."_

_**"Misty Lake?"**_

_"She created that. Unwillingly."_

_**"And destroyed lots of land that way."**_

_"Okay, you've made a point I can't deny. Mima and I both destroyed a lot... Each on our own, as well as together..."_

**"Duh."**

_"Shut up, Insanity! It sucks having two voices in your head..."_

**"What, you want more? Well, I guess we could..."**

_"NO!"_

"Back to topic..." snorted Yukari, still trying to hold back her own laughter at the confusion Mima and I had displayed, "Much like Flandre Scarlet, Koishi Komeiji is going to show her older sister how to fight properly. And with them teaming up, I bet I am not the only one who is waiting for a battle of the siblings, am I right?"

Yukari smiled and waved her hands when everyone began to cheer, and I only rolled my eyes. I took this moment to examine Flandre and Koishi, but had to admit that neither of them had really changed. They did look the same as back then, only having grown as well. Other than that, Flandre was still Flandre, and Koishi was still Koishi.

Save for the part of her third eye being open, which I just took as yet another blow to the stomach, but did not yell about like with Remi and Satori being married to one another.

I'll just wait until I've seen all of the changes.

And then, I go KABOOM!

Or 'Kyuuu~', as Flandre puts it.

"The last member of this team isn't any different... Much like Flandre and Koishi will both have the chance to prove themselves, Hong Meiling will be able to prove her strength yet again to Sakuya Izayoi. And, to save Chôzen from losing it, we just omit why." giggled Yukari, sending me another amused glance that just screamed 'I'm so making fun of you right now'.

_"Okay, what was that supposed to mean? Something about Meiling showing her strength to Sakuya... Again? Doesn't Yukari know that I saw how she proved her strength by defeating Sakuya's father? I was there when it happened!"_

_**"I don't think that is what she means, guessing from how Sakuya and Meiling are blushing..."**_

_"...I do know that the two of them are together."_

_**"I think there is more to it... But they are not going to tell us."**_

_"Not that I mind. This is probably some other embarrassing information that Sakuya will kill me for knowing."_

**"Duh."**

_"Could you stop that?!"_

**"No."**

"And that's our seventh team! Flandre Scarlet, Koishi Komeiji and Hong Meiling! Any words from you, Flandre? You're going to lead this team, right?" smiled Yukari at the seventh team.

"Onee-sama said everything already. Everyone should give their best!" exclaimed the younger Scarlet and waved, which Koishi and Meiling repeated.

"Yes, everyone should give their best...! Now, let's move on to the next point... Who will fight who, and when?" smiled Yukari and turned away from us, nodding towards the judges.

And I guess I wasn't the only one that noticed something was amiss.

"Hey... Yakumo." began Remilia and glanced around, looking at each of the fighters, "I think you forgot something. I'm counting twenty-one people... Divided by three, this means it's seven teams. But shouldn't we be eight teams?"

And at that, Yukari's smile turned into a evil, wide smirk of utter satisfaction.

"Ah, I forgot... Sorry, it's because the last team is already here." chuckled Yukari and waved it off as she turned back into our direction.

"What is that supposed to mean, eh?" huffed Yuuka and put her hands onto her hips, glaring accusingly at Yukari. And I felt it as well. Yukari had left that 'small' detail out on purpose. The eight team was already here... That had been planned.

"The last team is going to shock a few." smirked Yukari, waving into the direction of Reimu and Suika, who quickly climbed onto the battlefield and stepped up to the Sukima.

I frowned.

_"That's only two..."_

**"Duh. I can count as well."**

_"Shut up! That's not what I mean! A team is made of three people... So why only Reimu and Suika?! Who's the last one?!"_

"Everyone should know our beautiful shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei... And Suika Ibuki is known as well, even though for her parties." giggled the Sukima... Only for her smirk to become all nasty again.

"That's two." snarled Mima and narrowed her eyes, voicing my doubts. And Yukari had waited for that.

"Is that? Is there a problem with that?" asked Yukari innocently. Too innocent.

"A team is made of three... And you didn't say who'd lead their team." added Yuuka and narrowed her eyes as well.

"I have a small suspicion... And if it is what I think it is, Yukari... I can only say: You are not serious, are you?" commented Rumia and narrowed her eyes, too.

And Yukari just smirked, pulled out her folding fan, and hid her lower mouth.

"The third member, the one leading their team is..." smirked the Sukima nastily behind her folding fan.

"...me."

Immediately, everything became silent. I could only stare in shock. At least until some of Yukari's words repeated themselves in my head.

"Hey, you said no one knows the procedure of the tournament and no one has any advantage!" I claimed, to which the Sukima just rose an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, did I say that?" laughed Yukari, "I'm sorry... I do know about the whole procedure of the tournament. I may not know which arena we are going to fight in and who will fight who, that is completely random... But I have my slight advantages. But, after all, we never said that the host of the whole tournament is not allowed to participate!"

I clenched my fists and snarled, Rumia let out a loud huff while Nanatsu just frowned, and both Yuuka and Mima narrowed their eyes in annoyance at the Sukima no Youkai. Everyone else just frowned in disbelief at her.

"Oh well, moving on~" sung Yukari and twirled around, smirked at the irritated judges (Sly was only smirking, though), and waved her folding fan around.

"Now... Who will fight who, and when?" repeated Yukari, nodding towards the judges, only for Aya to stand up.

"This will be decided with the help of Nue Houjuu." declared the tengu, before she waved into the direction of nine of UFOs. Eight of them were white in color and about the size of a head, the last one was tall and red with Nue sitting on top. These nine flying objects flew into our direction and the eight white UFOs lined up in front of us, while Nue flew on the ninth above our heads.

"Each of these objects, which we see as white, has one of four colors. There are two of each color. Those teams who have the red ones will fight first against one another, followed by the ones with the blue object, the green ones, and finally the yellow ones. The winners of red and blue will fight in the second round, the semifinals, followed by the winners of the green and yellow rounds. Winners of these will fight in the finale." explained the tengu.

"Teams, please gather now and choose your unknown object. The teams can decide in the order they have been introduced, meaning that Cirno's team will begin." continued Akyuu for Aya, and the tengu nodded.

I nodded, sent Mima a last glance, and then moved over to Nanatsu and Rumia, while Yuuka and Shinki went over to Mima. The other teams assembled as well and began to mutter in secret. I didn't have to do that. I frowned at Nanatsu and Rumia, and both simply nodded.

"Cirno?" asked Akyuu, and the ice fairy smirked proudly.

"Number one!" she proclaimed, pointing at the UFO at the very left. Immediately, it turned blue.

"Very well... Yuugi?" continued the child of Miare, and the Oni pointed at the third UFO. It turned green, much to Yuugi's amusement, as she quickly commented that green was her favorite color... And for some reason, she was nudging a blushing Parsee at that moment.

"Utsuho?" asked Aya, finally sitting down again. The hell raven frowned and muttered her trademark 'unyu~?' while she put a finger onto her lips, right before she pointed at the sixth UFO. It turned yellow.

Everyone's gaze moved to me.

"Number seven." I stated simply and pointed at the second to last UFO.

It turned red.

_"Damn it, we're going to be in the very first fight!"_ I snarled in my mind as I stared blankly at the red UFO, only to glance into the direction of the remaining teams.

_"And no matter who our enemy will be, it will be a strong one. Yukari wasn't kidding at all when she said that only strong beings in Gensokyo would be part of this tournament... The question, now, is... Mima, Remilia, Flandre or Yukari...?"_

It was Mima's turn to choose. And not only I began to sweat as the evil spirit eyed the remaining UFOs of white color. Choosing the 'right one' would mean that we'd have to fight against one another first... My first fight would be against the evil spirit that I had fought twenty years ago, the last real battle I had. More or less. The other battles after that had been nothing against my fight against Mima...

Yuuka frowned at Shinki shortly, then moved up to Mima and muttered something into her ear. The evil spirit swallowed, then rose her right hand. She pointed at the eight UFO.

It turned blue.

"That means that we have one fight settled! The second fight will be Cirno, Daiyousei and Letty Whiterock versus Mima Kazami, Yuuka Kazami and Shinki!" announced Aya as she jumped up and held a blue flag into the air.

A large amount of fairy maids from the Scarlet Devil Mansion suddenly appeared above our heads, carrying large pieces of paper. They flew to a large billboard on one side of the arena, on the side of the entrance, and quickly pinned the pieces onto the board, then drew lines with white crayon that indicated that Mima's team would fight that of Cirno.

**"Well, that's a laugh. The strongest team against the possibly really strongest team... Or at least on par with us and the team of Yukari. Yuuka, Mima and Shinki are going to hand their asses to them!"**

"Next, please! Remilia Scarlet, please chose one of the remaining UFOs!" shouted Nue above our heads, grinning to herself.

Remi glared at the nue, only to point at the second UFO. I frowned again, almost awaited it to turn red...

It turned green.

"The next battle is set! Yuugi Hoshiguma, Parsee Mizuhashi and Shiho Kumo against Remilia Scarlet, Satori Scarlet and Sakuya Izayoi!" shouted Aya, and the fairy maids began to move again. Especially as Sakuya threatened them with some knives.

I didn't concentrate on them. I glared from Flandre's team to Yukari's team. We were going to fight one of them. And silently, I hoped it would be Flandre's team.

"Flandre Scarlet!" exclaimed Akyuu, and the younger Scarlet let out a childish giggle. She and Koishi decided, while Meiling merely stood back and smiled warmly. Seeing her stand behind them, towering above both despite them having grown, she somehow looked like a mother.

Geez, now that would be a sight! Meiling as a mother! Especially, considering that she has, more or less, two personalities. Everyone knew the kind and warm one... Twenty years ago, we had seen the other face of Meiling, the cold and cruel one that had wanted nothing else but to obliterate Mima.

I still wondered which of them was a mask, and which not.

"That one!" exclaimed Flandre and pointed at the second UFO.

Anticipation grew inside me. Everyone was staring at the UFO to change it's color, everyone waited for the final conclusion as to who would fight whom.

The solution finally came in shape of the other UFO, the one Flandre had not chosen, turning red.

"And thus, it is decided!" shouted Sly and jumped up just as Flandre's UFO turned yellow, only for Aya to glare at him and continue for him, "Flandre Scarlet, Koishi Komeiji and Hong Meiling will fight against Utsuho Reiuji, Ryoko Jigoku and Rin Kaenbyou in the quarterfinals!"

"And Chôz'n Gekido, Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Gekido-Shisô will fight against Yukari Yakumo, Reimu Hakurei and Suika Ibuki in the very first fight of this tournament! Now that is something I'd give all of mah money for!" exclaimed Sly, taking over again.

"Damn it!" I cursed loudly and balled my fists, glared into the direction of Yukari, only to be greeted with her mocking smirk. Both Nanatsu and Rumia had equally shocked expressions as they glanced towards Yukari as well. Reimu smirked in our direction in an equally amused way as Yukari, and Suika just smiled at us in her childish way.

"The first fight will start in fifteen minutes, in which we will set up the remaining things. And someone, please send Yúgure down here so she'll prepare for the terraforming. Teams, please clear the battlefield..." called out Rinnosuke as he rose, the other judges following his example.

"The fight Chôzen's team against Yukari's team will start in fifteen minutes, Mima's team will fight Cirno's team right after this fight. The fights Remilia's team against Yuugi's team will take place tomorrow morning, followed by Flandre's team against Utsuho's team in the afternoon. Every fight after that will be decided depending on who is going to fight who in the semifinals!" added Aya.

The teams on the battlefield began to scatter, the audience was cheering and yelling, the judges were frowning, Shikieiki was glaring... And my wives and I just remained where we were, stared in shock at Yukari and her team, who hadn't moved an inch as well.

And finally, I managed to say the words that Nanatsu and Rumia must've thought as well.

"This isn't going to be pretty..." I snarled under my breath and clenched my fists, "We'll start right away with a fight that could cost us our tournament already."

_"And we have only fifteen minutes to prepare..."_

Yukari and I began to stare each other down.

We both knew that we couldn't fight at our full power, at least not against one another... But was there a way to avoid it? Could Nanatsu or Rumia take Yukari on?

They could.

The question was if this was going to happen.

I knew it wouldn't come that way. I knew it would be me against Yukari. Or rather, Yukari against me.

The beginning would always fight the end.

_7 Days until the event in the godforsaken land..._

* * *

(1) Chôzen isn't a Youkai of a certain species, just a unique Youkai that is it's own kind; rather known for his title "Insei no Youkai" than his species. Thus, he is a Youkai that is just a Youkai.

Other than that, Chôzen cannot have a sibling just like that, due to being born from emotions (indifference, wrath) rather than a father and a mother; he came to exist due to nature creating him. If a Youkai would be born from the same emotions, it would still not be related to Chôzen by blood, being it's own kind. Furthermore, only one can exist of his kind, much like there is only one Yuuka Kazami (only one to represent nature).

(2) I am referring to 1.5 - Negative Interest here, where Cirno had her moment to shine towards the end.

* * *

_And that's about it!_

_There wasn't much action this time. We had randomness (crater scene), had Yukari messing around, lots of plot (in a sense), some information regarding the sisters, and the great reunion of Chôzen and family with Gensokyo._

_And they have yet to know about the newest additions to the Gekido family, though. Most of them, at least._

_While this chapter featured a lot of events regarding the Gekido Sisters, I focused mainly on Yume. The reason for this was to show off the clear difference between her and her younger half-sister Yajû: Yume pays more attention to the details._

_This doesn't mean that I'll stick with Yume, though. I'll focus on Yajû as well eventually. But you have to see it like this: Yajû is the one that acts (and with that, similar to Rumia), Yume the one that thinks and pays attention. They compliment each other because of their differences, and thus, will mostly be seen together as far as I can see. _

_Throughout the first arc, they'll have their own little story, in a sense. I decided to split this, moving between the fight (or fights? ;D) of the tournament with Chôzen, Nanatsu and Rumia; while the younger Gekido Sisters will learn more about their new home._

_Still, can anyone believe this will lead to the first chapter? No? Well, keep waiting~. I'm not trolling you, this all will lead to the first chapter!_

_Now, something else before I finish this..._

_Remilia, Satori, Flandre and Koishi._

_One of the reasons that I let their bodies age a bit (they'll be the same, though, no OOC) is that I wanted a clear indication that time has passed between book one and book two; a clear sign of the time that has passed and that Gensokyo has changed._

_Remilia, Satori, Flandre and Koishi seemed to be best for this, seeing as they are young in appearance, but all older than they appear. _

_And, let's face it: Remi was waiting for that growth spurt, like, forever._

_Besides, they're still cute._

_Remilia's new outfit was inspired by her appearance in Koumajou Densetsu, though varying a bit from that. I always thought it fit her, especially when she'd grow up. Satori got a new outfit as well, based on a picture I had once seen of her (but couldn't find again, derp!). Seeing as Flandre and Koishi just didn't fit for this whole style-change, they wear the same as always._

_..._

_Yeah, I think that's everything. Sorry if I forgot something, it's getting late here and I'm a little tired. Nearly 2 AM, I need to go to school later on and have to get up at 5 AM... Damn! Well, I just couldn't leave this like it was, so... I'll guess that's it. Comment if there is anything left to note down here... I'll edit it in._

_Also, I'll gladly welcome any reviews. Wonder if anyone can guess how this all turns into the downfall we're expecting? And who's going to be the big baddie this time? All I can say is that other characters you will not expect will be resurfacing sooner or later... And new faces will appear as well._

_**And one new, but already known face.**_

_Anyways... In the next episode of II - Negative Mind, Chôzen and his wives will be in for one heck of a fight! Can the end beat the beginning?_

_Find it out in the next chapter: "The End and the Beginning ~ It begins with an end?"_

_And as always, I'll see you in the next chapter!_

_So long~_


	6. Arc II - Ch II The end and the beginning

_Well then, here we are again!_

_I'm sorry that I'm three days late with the chapter, but I experienced a series of technical difficulties on Saturday and lost nearly a fourth of the chapter. I had to go back and rewrite the part I lost, and with the limited time I had on Monday and Tuesday, it didn't go so well._

_Nonetheless, here we are!_

_After the tournament started last time, we learned that Chôzen's first enemy was going to be Yukari... Well, that's were we start this time. _

_Before that, though, we're moving on to review time, which really surprised me this time._

**Kiri0952... **If you're reading this, I'm quite confused. First of, who are you referring to with 'that mysterious figure'? And how did you come to the conclusion that it was Chôzen's first child? I'm confused...

**Tez7... **Whoa, what the hell? Now that's quite an epic guess you got there. xD

**Aerhyce... **I wasn't even thinking of Mad Moxxi when I wrote Yukari's scene, but now I can see what you mean! I did my best to keep Remi in character and yet add a few details to her, and I guess it worked out fine.

Sure, that Chôzen/Mima encounter seemed a bit cliche, but some cliches shouldn't be avoided, especially if they describe the situation best. I'm sorry, but I just love some cliches...

By the way, I'm smelling Chekhov's Gun as well, and it might have to do with the red herring that Sly is so fond of... weird.

Oh, and don't worry, it's not going to be everyone who is in love with someone...

But besides, as Lily White would put it: IT'S SPRING in Gensokyo! The season of love! xD

Anyways, I'll eventually will give more information about that AND can assure you that it won't be everybody.

**Moriyaism...** Well, down below, you get some of the action you begged for. And there is way more to come with the plot I've prepared for you on a silver plate! It waits here with me, ready to be served in the right moment.

Since I'll write all of the main fights of the tournament (still thinking about if to write losers round or not), not just those including Chôzen's team, you may get the Remi vs. Flan... But of course only if they'd win against their respective enemy in the first round. So you better cheer for them once the time comes!

Well, the previous champions will remain a mystery for now. I'm not saying that Yukari didn't lie, because she lies quite often, but what if she lied about lying? What if she lied that the lie she used already was just a lie?

...I'm not making sense, I'm just trying to mess with your head here. So, all I can say until now is that the champions will remain a mystery until the right moment, and then, it's going to get epic.

Don't worry about Marisa or Youmu! They'll make their appearance soon, along with more of the old cast. And slowly, I'll solve and explain things...One at a time.

About the Chôzen-Yukari fight... Well, all I'm going to say is: enjoy!

_Phew! And that's review time!_

_Moving on... Well, I don't think I have anything to say here. Well, aside one thing._

_I'd like to remind you of the poll on my profile, the one about whether or not to write one or even two NBP Spin-offs during my summer holidays. It's still a while until then, but if you got the time and you're interested in one of them, please take a second to vote, alright? Don't worry about me not updating HoH or II-NM during that time! With all the free time I get by then, it'll be a piece of cake to keep my usual update routine, or even increase it._

_Now, with that said... Let's start the chapter, shall we?_

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Yume Gekido and Yajû Gekido-Shisô, Sly, Shiho Kumo and Ryoko Jigoku do belong to me, as for I have created them. This goes for any other OC's introduced as well._

* * *

_**Chapter 2: The End and the Beginning ~ It begins with an end?**_

_7 Days until the event in the godforsaken land..._

"Five minutes remaining!" shouted Rinnosuke from the table of the judges after speaking with the other three, "And can someone please finally call Yúgure down here? We can't start without her!"

Beside me, Nanatsu shifted a bit, apparently uncomfortable with her position. Rumia, though, remained quiet in her seat and didn't move, her soft breathing calming me a little. After stepping off the battlefield, we had moved over to a row of seats on the opposite side of the battlefield to the seats of the judges, giving me the chance to study them. Not that it was going to help me or something, but it was a nice little distraction while we waited for the battle.

Akyuu had remained quiet so far, her only movements those of writing something down on a piece of paper before her and dipping the tip of her pen into the little ink bottle ever so often. Once in a while, she'd say something, but would not look up from her writing.

Aya had stuck to chatting with Rinnosuke about something that the male wasn't really eager to talk about. This left me with the impression that Aya hadn't changed a bit... And I doubted that she ever would. That's just who she was.

What unnerved me, though, was the last individual, the last judge. Sly. Or at least, that was the name he wanted to be called, according to him. He still remained a mystery that I just couldn't figure out, a big question mark in my book.

Throughout the entire ten minutes so far, he had been staring at me. There was something creepy about this, something about his gaze that just didn't feel right. It unnerved me, made my hair stand on the end. He hadn't stopped staring even after I stared back, had only smirked and replied to one of Rinnosuke's questions.

Something told me that Sly was plotting something again... Maybe even manipulating me, just with a single stare.

His words, the words he had used in the prison of Higan, remained to echo in my head. It was like he had told me something then, a hidden message that I had yet to understand... Whatever it was, he was waiting for me to figure it out. But what was it? What was the hidden message in his words that I had missed?!

"Three minutes remaining!" shouted Rinnosuke as he stood up again, "And can someone finally..."

"Goddammit, someone finally get that damn girl! Rinnosuke's shouting is pissing me off!" I roared and immediately had all attention on me. Including Yukari's damn smirk. Oh, she knew she was doing this to me. She knew she was the reason for my now foul mood. She knew how uncertain I was, knowing that we'd be facing her team first.

She goddamn knew it, and I couldn't even blame her.

Though she had obviously exploited the lack of a rule that forbid the one who prepared the tournament to participate, she couldn't have known she'd be facing us first. Besides, it was a disadvantage for her as well to face us first. We could kick her out of the tournament... Or the other way around.

So why was she taking this so lightly? Why did she enjoy teasing me?

I sat up from my slumped position and rolled my shoulders, enjoyed the large cracking noise and the tension that was taken off my body. Lately, that had happened sometimes. Whenever I had sat in a position for a short time without really moving, my body tended to be tensed up. This was probably a result of the excessive amount of training we had gone through, but I couldn't even be sure about that. My body wasn't acting normal at all times.

"Someone please call Yúgure." huffed Rinnosuke again after a while and I merely let out a groan. He was sounding like a broken record or something. This was getting on my nerves.

"Already taken care of, she said she'll be down here in a minute." exclaimed one of the fairy maids as she flew over the shopkeeper's head and I silently thanked whatever god had helped that this broken record had finally come to an end.

"Two minutes remaining." shouted Rinnosuke that moment, and I slapped my forehead in defeat.

"He seriously needs to shut up. I don't have anything against him, but he is irritating me." complained Rumia, and I couldn't agree any more with her. Rinnosuke was a nice guy, but seriously annoying at that very moment.

It was that moment that I noticed someone bouncing down the stairs, someone out of place.

It was a darn beautiful girl. My first thought upon seeing her skin, which was white as snow and completely untainted, was strangely that her skin seemed really soft. As soft as silk. And it really had to mean something to SEE that over this distance.

Her hair was a deep shade of violet, the lower end having a slight reddish tint to it. With deep, luscious red eyes with a few dark highlights in them, she eyed the judges, then Yukari's team and finally my team.

Upon spotting all of us, her lusty and full lips, their color that of blood or maybe a dark-red cherry, curled up into a somewhat suggestive smile, revealing two pointy teeth in her mouth that somewhat reminded me of those of a vampire. But she wasn't a vampire, was she?

Wearing a black robe that reminded me of that which Koakuma wore, only with a pretty short skirt, she somehow immediately reminded me of the succubus working at Voile. Another proof to this possible relation were the three pairs of black, demonic wings on her back; four big ones with a pair of smaller ones in between. Also, she had the characteristic pair of wings on her head. So was she a succubus?

I flinched upon spotting the black whip that she had attached to a black belt around her right leg, which reminded me of how Sakuya used to carry at least one set of knives. But this girl wasn't in need of any knives, her scarlet fingernails were long and pointed, but it also didn't look like she was uncomfortable with using them; rather skilled at that.

She wasn't wearing any shoes, thus showing her slim and somewhat cute feet, the nails of these painted scarlet as well. It made me frown, though, as the floor of the arena wasn't exactly warm or anything. Wasn't she uncomfortable or cold?

Overall, she was young in appearance with a body to die for. With a very slim and also very feminine build and curves, she immediately attracted the gazes of both men and women. Her rack could've to do with that as well, though.

Was this Yúgure? If so, she certainly wasn't related to Mima at all, against my former suspicion. Made me wonder about her name, though.

The girl stepped up to the table of the judges and bowed politely, received a few greetings from the judges, and then quickly jogged down the remaining stairs and climbed onto the battlefield. She glanced left and right, seemed to measure the battlefield's length and width with her eyes, and then crouched down on the ground, drawing something with her finger that obviously seemed to be some kind of magic rune.

Almost immediately, the cold stone that the battlefield was made of turned into a green meadow, catching not only me off guard.

This was Yúgure, the one with the ability to terraform.

She turned the battlefield back into the cold stone and turned to the judges, nodded once, and then smiled as she positioned herself at the edge of the battlefield with her hands laid onto one another at the height of her hip.

"We are ready to start! Contestants, please take your spot on the battlefield!" announced Akyuu as she rose from her seat, finally putting the writing aside.

I shared a short glance with both of my wives and then with Yukari, only to finally rise from my kind of uncomfortable seat and move back to the battlefield. I climbed onto it with a single jump, followed by Rumia and Nanatsu, and walked up to the middle of the battlefield, just as Yukari, Suika and Reimu arrived there as well via gap.

From out of the corner of my eyes, I saw how someone in behind the judges rose from her seat and stared down at us. It was Kanako. I'd recognize that blue hair and the snake eyes everywhere.

"Now then... Is everybody ready for the first fight of this year's tournament? Chôzen Gekido, Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Gekido-Shisô against Yukari Yakumo, Reimu Hakurei and Suika Ibuki! This is promising to be good, so don't miss it now! This is a once in a lifetime fight!" added Aya to Akyuu's words, and I knew that this was just another big scoop for her. And I could already see the headline of the next Bunbunmaru news...

'The beginning versus the end! The eternal battle continues!'

Eternal battle... That made me think of Mokou and Kaguya, and I silently wondered why I hadn't seen them so far. After all, Yukari had mentioned that they had been participating last year... So where were they now?

"Since there are no rules other than 'Don't kill!' and no time limit, this promises to be a long fight! And I bet it will put a lot of strain to Yasaka-sama's barrier! Let's see how powerful it really is!" continued the tengu, glancing over her shoulder at the goddess of the Moriya Shrine. Kanako did not move.

She was glaring at me, and I glared right back.

The rivalry would continue. This was our silent promise.

"Yúgure, please transform the battlefield now. Surprise us with whatever you got planned for this fight!" smiled Akyuu, and the girl with the dark violet hair nodded. Crouching down, she drew another symbol onto the ground with her left index finger. The cold stone beneath my feet changed again.

And before I knew it, I was standing on a clearing in a small forest. And it looked just like an actual forest. The trees had leaves and a few of them would fall every now and then, just like in a real forest. The treetops weren't thick enough to hide in and still allowed the audience to look through them to see us.

"Oh, a forest it'll be. Simple and yet very effective. An interesting choice, Yúgure." smiled Aya, placing her camera on the table before her. I knew she was going to take pictures of the fights... I had figured that out the moment I had first seen her today.

"My, thanks. I thought that as well... Simple and effective is just my style, I guess." chuckled an otherworldly voice thick with lust, and I figured that it'd belong to Yúgure. I couldn't be sure, though, as I couldn't see her anylonger, now hidden behind a tree. Not until she stepped out from behind that tree and smirked at us. And I chose that moment to ask the question that was bugging me.

"I have a question..." I began, but before I could finish my question, the succubus-like girl replied.

"120-60-90." was the reply, catching me off guard.

_**"Dayum, that's quite the figure!"**_

"If that was not what you meant... No, these teeth cannot suck blood, I'm a succubus, not a vampire. But, if I start taking a liking to you, I might bite you. I always bite people I like a lot." added the girl, leaving me dumbfounded.

_**"I think I want to be bitten~"**_

**"Shut up."**

I ignored the two voices in my head, focused on the reality before me. Now I knew what Yukari had referred to earlier when she had mentioned that we shouldn't get too close to Yúgure because of her 'playful' nature...

"Actually... I was going to ask about your terraforming abilities... Do they have a limit?" I finally brought forth, only earning a frown from Yúgure.

"That's all you wanted to ask? Well, fine... Yes, they have. I can't change two locations at once, and this arena here, not the battlefield, is the most I can change at once without falling unconscious due to exhaustion." explained the girl named Yúgure, before she frowned at me, "Is that really all you wanted to ask?"

"Believe me, I got more information than I asked for. Thanks." I chuckled uneasily and turned away, quickly returned to my location in front of Nanatsu and Rumia, gaze back on Yukari, and Yúgure finally vanished behind the trees.

"Now then... Yúgure is currently leaving the battlefield, so we only wait for Kanako Yasaka to set up the barrier, and then we're good to go!" exclaimed Rinnosuke.

"Hey, Kourin, dude... Is that Yúgure gal still single? She's hot and just the type of woman I like." sniggered the ex-barkeeper.

"Ugh, Sly..." groaned the other male, but I paid them no mind and instead focused on my opponents again... Yukari, Reimu and Suika.

And continued to do so until a yellow barrier came to be, flickering into life. It surrounded the entire battlefield from the ground up to the ceiling, trapped us in a large space. And there, we'd duke it out. Winner would move on, loser would have to continue in the losers around.

With the cheering of the audience and the comments of the judges no longer audible to us, it was completely silent, the only sound the soft rustling of the leaves in the wind of this shut-off world. Whoever Yúgure was... Yukari hadn't been kidding about her specializing in Terraforming magic. This area that she had created was a perfect replica of a real forest. Even the wind and the fragrances you'd expect to be in a normal forest were present.

This was perfection at it's best.

It remained silent as we stood there, no one daring to make a too sudden move. Reimu took out her gohei, Yukari shouldered her parasol and Suika took a swig of her alcohol. Nanatsu reached over her shoulder to draw Shi no Taizai, hesitated for a second and grabbed the hilt of her sledgehammer Senkoku, but then eventually pulled Shi no Taizai after all, twirled the scythe once and then rested it in her hands.

Rumia and I both called upon her weapons at the same time, if my emerald hands could be considered a weapon, that was. Darkness gathered into her right hand and the familiar chains of bloodlust curled up around her arm, the darkness within her hand finally turning into Tyrfing. At the same time, my hands lit up in the emerald flames and I held them like claws, waiting for anyone of Yukari's team to make a mistake.

I waited for it to begin... so that I could end it.

Irony at it's best.

* * *

_Yume's PoV_

"What's he waiting for...?" complained Yajû and hit the glass before us, "Come on, Dad, kick her ass! You've got the powers to do so!"

"I think they're waiting for a mistake of the enemies side... And since both sides of this fight are incredibly strong, making the first move is going to be the first mistake. They're equally powerful... Equally balanced... Yukari is like Dad in terms of power, both Mom and Suika have strength as their aspect, and Rumia and Reimu are both known to be headstrong..." I commented.

My half-sister sent me a frown at that, only to return to watch the fight. Seeing that she wasn't going to listen me, I merely let out a small sigh and turned to glance over my shoulder at the others in the room. Not like I was going to start a conversation or anything, but they still had picked my interest.

This Toki girl seemed to be the strangest of them with her masculine appearance, her height and her husky voice. There was something bugging me about this girl... Something that I had missed yet, a small detail that had escaped me. Just what was it?

"Who are you two, anyways?"

The voice made me flinch and I hurried to hide behind my sister, actually scaring the girl with the short gray hair and the ponytail on the right side that had just asked me. Her red eyes were wide in surprise as she frowned at the me, apparently confused about me.

Yajû let out a groan and closed her eyes, then opened them again to glare down at me.

"Sis, are you kidding me? You have to get social sometime, you know? I cannot always hide you!" snarled Yajû. I glanced up at her, hoping that she would get the message, but Yajû merely huffed and pushed me away from her, her gaze once more on the battle that had yet to start for real.

"Sometimes, I can't believe you're the older sister... You're smaller, you act like a child and you're flat." complained the Angel of Death. And struck a nerve.

With my hands on my chest, which wasn't that flat, I snarled back at my younger half-sister and stomped on the ground.

"I'm not flat! And shut the hell up, you're actually the one acting like a little kid here!" I hissed. Yajû merely sent me one of these 'are you serious?' frowns, and then returned to watch the fight. It seemed that she didn't want to miss anything of it.

I pouted immediately, the other people in the room long forgotten... And then, did what I always did when Yajû and I had one of our arguments and got frustrated.

I threw myself at her.

Unlike usual, when Yajû pushed me to this point on purpose, she did not avoid and was thrown off balance when I threw myself at her.

Yajû stumbled around while I had my arms around her neck and tried to push her down, resulting in me hanging on her due to the small difference in our height. She tried to shake me off, yelling obscene things and threats, while I just kept on pushing her down.

And suddenly, I was pulled away from Yajû and was hanging in midair. To my shock, Yajû was hanging in midair just as much as I was. We frowned at one another, blinked, and then looked to the one holding us.

It was Toki, the tall, pink-haired girl.

_"Woah, she's strong!"_ I thought, seeing how Toki held us in the air by the back of our collars without even breaking a sweat. She eyed us both with a hint of irritation in her ash-gray eyes, frowned and huffed.

"Geez, what's it with you?" complained Toki with her husky voice, "I'm gonna put you down now... Will you behave?"

"Yes." I chorused in unison with Yajû, both of us not even trying to hide our annoyance.

"I don't think I'll ever understand girls..." groaned the pink-haired girl in black and slumped her shoulders a little. I paid that statement no mind and merely waited for her to place us down, but Yajû cringed and stared ahead with wide eyes.

And suddenly, rose her hand and touched Toki... THERE.

Immediately, Toki gasped and let go of us, stared in shock at Yajû after jumping away from her and the Angel of Death stared right back.

"What the...?! What do you think you're doing?!" shrieked Toki and flailed her arms around. I frowned at my older sister, silently wondering since when she was 'swinging that way', but Yajû quickly revealed exactly why she had just done that.

"The bloody hell, Yume..." she muttered and looked at me, "That's not a girl! That's a boy!"

I glanced back at Toki, who was fuming in anger by now.

"Of course I am! That aside, you could've asked if you weren't sure, you know?!" roared the pink-haired boy in black and stomped onto the ground. Patchouli Knowledge glanced up from her book and frowned while the succubus aside her, Koakuma, was having a hard time holding back her laughter. Figures that a succubus would find a situation like this amusing.

"Toki is indeed a boy, and I am surprised you have only noticed now. I don't think it is that hard to notice." commented one of the two girls that had entered the room with him earlier. Glancing into her direction, I found her sitting on the throne of Remilia Scarlet. And that had to mean that she was either pretty bold, which she certainly didn't look like, or was accepted by Remilia as equal in nobility.

Seeing the noble, light blue dress with bright purple trimming that she wore, I guess it was the later one.

She was pretty beautiful, if I may say that. The kind of girl that resembled a princess that any average girl would love to be. Soft, purple eyes rested upon us, hidden by a few strands of short and light violet, almost white, hair. If I would have to describe this girl with one word, I'd think it would be 'purity' or 'innocence'...

And that, despite her obviously being a vampire. Aside her very pale skin, she did sport the characteristic pair of black bat wings on her back, at least. Interestingly, though, they had purple symbols on them, the shape of these symbols that of an eye.

The only thing that seemed off about her was that she was a little short... About the height of a child not having reached the age of 10. I couldn't have known then, but this girl had about the height of Remilia Scarlet twenty years earlier. (1)

"Bah, shut up if you're not having anything interesting to say, lil' girl." grumbled Yajû and turned away from the girl in the throne... She never saw how the girl opened her palm into the direction of her to release a bat made of golden colored energy.

All that Yajû saw was how the thing exploded next to her head on the window, leaving a few cracks in the glass.

"Let me rephrase you... Shut up if you're not having the power to fight back. You're obviously not from Gensokyo, so let me explain how things work here... We solve our problems by playing Danmaku, a game that gets rid of the differences in power between Youkai, as well as Youkai and human. Those with with magical powers of any kind can use bullets... Can you?" growled the short vampire.

Yajû snarled and glared over her right shoulder. I knew what she felt that moment... Hatred. Anger. Both at herself. I don't think that the vampire girl knew, but Yajû was pretty much powerless when it came to magic. Unlike Mom, Dad, Rumia or me, Yajû had yet to find any power beyond her physical abilities. And if what our parents (meaning Mom, Dad and Yajû's mother, Rumia) had discussed several times... Then Yajû had no power beyond her physical abilities.

"Airisu, keep yourself under control. You're acting like Remi when she was younger... not that she changed." warned Patchouli from the side. The vampire girl, apparently named Airisu, glanced into the direction of the bookworm and the succubus, let out a huff, and then closed her eyes and leaned back in the throne.

"Whatever, Patche." was the only thing she said. But the effect of that was even greater.

Patchouli suddenly rose from her seat and slammed her book down on it, resulting in Airisu jumping out of Remilia's throne.

"Young lady! I do not recall allowing you to call me by that name! Also, I do not recall you being such a spoiled little brat! Perhaps I should have a word with your mother?" shouted Patchouli, and almost immediately, Airisu teared up and was on her knees before Patchouli, who had suddenly started to cough violently.

"Please don't! Mom doesn't like me being rude to others! And mother doesn't either!" cried the young vampire, leaving Patchouli to sigh in annoyance.

"Then behave, for once. Toki... Please take her to her mother. She should be near the battlefield, seeing as she hasn't returned." grumbled Patchouli, and the only male in the room saluted, then followed the instructions. He picked up the crying girl and sat her onto his shoulders, one leg on each side of his head, and left the room.

It remained silent until the crying was no longer audible, before Patchouli let out a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She sat down again, coughed violently once more, and then opened her book again.

"She can be such a spoiled brat, and that despite the fact that her mothers tried her best not to spoil her too much..." grumbled the woman in her pajama and flipped to the next page.

"Shall I serve you a tea, Miss Patchouli? The special brand you love so much? It should help that strained throat of yours." asked the succubus aside her as she rose, and when Patchouli nodded and waved her hand a bit, Koakuma bowed and left the alcove.

She stopped for a moment, a moment that I took to eye her again and admit that she was certainly beautiful, and bowed to us.

"I apologize for Airisu's behavior. Please don't be too angry at her. She isn't always like this." smiled Koakuma, then rose from her bow, and left the room to get the tea Patchouli had asked for indirectly.

"Oh god, is it happening?! Is someone really making the mistake of attacking the other team first?!" echoed the voice of Aya Shameimaru through the arena that moment, and both Yajû and I gasped and jumped towards the large window to look down at the arena, the last remaining girl, the one that originally asked me, long forgotten already after the things with Toki and Airisu.

Aya Shameimaru was right. Someone had dared to start the fight eventually.

It had been Rumia.

She went into her knees and pushed herself off the ground, threw herself at Yukari. I could see Dad screaming something and saw how Mom turned her gaze to the left, something she always did when she was complaining, muttering or cursing under her breath.

This wasn't good at all!

Was this mistake of Rumia... going to end the tournament for our parents already?

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV_

_The first fight of the tournament! _

_Music cue: Koumajou Densetsu II - Reimu Boss Theme_

"This is taking too long! I need a fight, now!" shouted Rumia all of sudden, pushed herself off the ground and dashed towards Yukari.

"Rumia! That's what they're waiting for!" I bellowed after her, but she wasn't listening. I heard Nanatsu curse under her breath, one hand hiding her mouth... Hiding her grin.

The emerald flames around my hands flared up again as I watched Rumia, making no attempt at stopping her as she charged at Yukari. The Sukima made no attempt to avoid, the reason for that was that Reimu jumped in front of the her, several amulets, called ofuda, in her hands.

That was what I had waited for.

Emerald flames surrounded my feet all of sudden and I moved.

Back in my last days in Gensokyo twenty years earlier, I had pushed negative energy into my feet to move at greater speed. During our training during the last four weeks, I had learned that surrounding them rather than channeling energy into them allowed me to move even faster... It worked similar to how I surrounded my hands with negative energy to make my attacks stronger.

Well, that wasn't exactly right. I wasn't just surrounding them. Rather than that, surrounding my hands, and now my feet as well, was actually the negative energy leaking out of these limbs once they were overcharged with the unstable energy. So, in a sense, I was still pushing negative energy into them.

I had discovered this skill on accident, though. I had been fighting Rumia with all I've got during a sparring, and had surrounded my feet with negative energy to enhance my kicks, but didn't extinguish the emerald flames upon avoiding one of Rumia's punches, and had noticed how much faster I had become.

That I hadn't found out earlier was kind of annoying, but now, I could barely live without that skill. It would help a lot during the tournament, considering how powerful all of our enemies would be. If we would win this fight, that was.

With emerald flames blazing around my feet, I pushed myself off the ground as well and followed Rumia. I dashed past her, too fast for Reimu to react, and stopped right in front of her, only to smirk at her right before I pushed myself off the ground in a backflip.

The smirks of Reimu and Yukari turned into shocked frowns. What had formerly been excitement and amusement at Rumia's impatience turned into the realization of being tricked.

Yes, we had tricked them... We had come up with this little trick during the fifteen minutes before the battle. We had known that we would need an advantage to begin with, some kind of trick that would give us an advantage. Exploiting Rumia's impatience was what we had decided on.

We decided that we would wait a while, then let Rumia act like her impatience was getting the better of her and make her dash at Yukari. It was obvious that Reimu would interfere... And that was where my speed would come in, a swift kick to knock Reimu out of the way.

It all was a surprise attack.

Just as Reimu's smirk turned into a frown, my blazing foot connected with her chin from below and knocked her into the air, and I stopped after my backflip. Rumia dashed past me and jumped into the air, hit Reimu in a tackle and knocked her into a tree, only to follow her once again.

We had also decided that Rumia would keep her weapon Kaibutsu hidden for now, despite her fighting style having changed to include it. In other words, she would have to stick with her old fighting style, the one where she mainly relied onto Tyrfing. Keeping Kaibutsu hidden would give us another advantage once we needed it...

With Reimu out of the way, I threw myself at Yukari, but Suika got in the way. She used her abilities to grow in size, only for me to slide past her in a crouched position, which ended with me right in front of Yukari on the ground.

"Boo!" I snickered and discharged my blazing hands in two orbs. Yukari snarled and jumped backwards, vanished inside a gap, only to reappear high above me. She tried to crush me underneath her, but I rolled out of the way and stumbled onto my feet again, just as Yukari impacted with the ground and whirled up dirt and dust.

Suika returned to her old size and whirled one of her chains over her head, aiming at Nanatsu already. However, as she threw it at the Shinigami, Nanatsu simply caught the chain and swung the Oni around by it.

I smirked a little at that, then turned back to Yukari just as the dust vanished. The Sukima was frowning at me as she rose from her crouched position, revealing that she had a little change of outfit during the second she had spent in her gap.

Now wearing a violet pair of shorts and the corresponding top with bare midriff (Phew, what a well-toned stomach!) and no sleeves, the Sukima had also put on some kind of white armor that surrounded her arms from her hands up to the elbows, as well as her feet up to her knees.

Actually looked like some kind of armor you'd use during a sparring. And definitely not something I'd enjoy to get hit with. It looked pretty sturdy, heavy enough to leave back a massive concussion to those unfortunate enough to be hit with them. (2)

I'd rather not be one of them.

When Yukari suddenly moved, I switched to a defensive stance with my arms crossed in front of my body and pushed all negative energy into them to cover them in emerald flames, hoping to take the impact of Yukari's attack.

However, before she got the chance to strike me, Suika's body impacted with hers and sent them flying. I chuckled into Nanatsu's direction and nodded, then followed Yukari and Suika in hope to reach them before the Youkai Sage could untangle herself from the small Oni.

Unfortunately, I forgot Suika's ability to manipulate density, including her own. I remembered it only as it was already too late, Suika had dissolved into mist and Yukari had vanished in a gap. A powerful pain shot through my side as a hard punch hit me there, Yukari's face appearing next to me.

"It's almost unfair, isn't it? Everyone can use his or her power in this tournament... Interestingly, it's not unbalanced. Everyone has the same chance to win." snickered the Sukima, driving the armored fist deeper into my right side.

Her smirk turned into a frown when I grinned at her.

"What are you grinning for?" hissed the Sukima and pulled her fist back, only to drive it into my side again, hoping to wipe that grin off my face. It remained.

"What I am grinning for?" I asked under a snarl and remained strong in my stance, "Everyone can use his or her power in this tournament."

Yukari's eyes widened, just as I opened my mouth and clicked my tongue, revealing a new trick of mine. Yukari let out a scream as a small, emerald flame hit her right in between her eyes and forced her away from me, allowing me to twirl on the spot and kick her into the side.

I rolled my shoulders as I smirked down at Yukari. During the last twenty years, I had come to the important conclusion that I could channel negative energy practically anywhere in my body... I had to thank Mima for that, I guess. I got the idea to try it upon looking back at the final battle against her. Sadly, I couldn't just throw negative energy from anywhere on my body, merely from hands, feet and strangely my tongue. The last one was always good to have the last laugh, though.

Before Yukari got the chance to do as much as rise, I knocked her down to the ground and rose my right foot. I covered it in negative energy for a powerful stomp onto the old gap hags back, but something painful hit me in my back and all of my muscles tensed up.

My body felt heavy and I stumbled to the side, fighting the sudden tiredness and the thing on my back that felt like lightning flowing through my body. I knew exactly what that was... I had felt that pain once, only far more powerful... It was the pain that an ofuda caused to a Youkai, even if this one probably wasn't meant to exterminate like the one from Sanae that had hit me once.

Stumbling left and right, I tried to do my best at staying upright, but Yukari exploited my weakness and kicked my feet away, causing me to fall onto the ground aside her. Laying on my stomach, I now didn't have to use the energy on remaining upright anymore and instead began to fight the ofuda... Unless this was a powerful one, it wouldn't stop me forever. After all, I had managed to destroy ofuda with my will alone before. Weak, or rather the normal, ofuda had a hard time holding back exalted Youkai like me or Yukari.

I felt someone land on my back, and that not exactly soft. And, to make things worse, Yukari rose from the ground as well, meaning that two of them were back in the game while I was out.

I heard Rumia coming closer, sliding the tip of Tyrfing's blade audibly across the ground. To those who didn't know it, it was just a habit of Rumia. For me and Nanatsu, it was something else that we had agreed on. Why we had chosen that kind of behavior? Well, since Rumia's fighting style had changed, she didn't drag Tyrfing over the ground that much anymore...

What this kind of behavior meant? Well, either she had indeed fallen completely back into her old pattern, something that I doubted... Or it meant that Rumia wanted to be noticed, wanted the attention of the enemy entirely on her.

Yep, a distraction.

"Over there... She's coming from the ground." I heard Reimu whisper, and heard Yukari reply with a short 'yeah'. And it was that moment that I knew that the distraction worked.

Only a few seconds later, I felt Reimu shift in her stance on my back, but also felt the ofuda's power weaken. Only a few more seconds and that thing would be off again...

Reimu shifted again and since the right side of my face was flat against the ground, I could see Rumia appearing from behind a tree, smirking as she approached. But at the same time, since my ear was against the ground, I heard the other set of footsteps approaching from the other side. Far heavier footsteps.

Rumia moved Tyrfing and sled the tip against the stones on the ground in between the dirt, creating a loud noise as sparks were created. Of course, that was to drown out the loud noises of the heavy footsteps. Rumia continued to approach, came closer and closer. The stones stopped, and the loud noise did as well. A loud thump followed as something heavy approached from the other side, but it was already next to my head. I heard both Reimu and Yukari gasp.

And the next moment, Reimu was thrown off me, followed by the distinct sound of her body impacting with the barrier, followed by someone else, most likely Yukari, hitting a nearby tree.

The ofuda's charm broke as I finally pushed all power into it, and I pushed myself up from the ground with the help of Rumia. Glancing towards Nanatsu, I found her holding her new weapon, the sledgehammer Senkoku, and couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of both Reimu and Yukari being thrown through the arena because of that heavy thing.

"I like that weapon." chuckled Rumia and patted the hilt of the hammer.

"I love it." added Nanatsu and twisted it a little.

And then, we all shared a knowing glance.

Nanatsu and Rumia sidestepped, both swinging their respective weapon backwards. Suika hissed as the hilts of Senkoku and Tyrfing dug into her stomach, holding her in midair after her attempt to attack us with a punch from above.

Grabbing her by the horns that protruded from her ginger hair, I swung the Oni around and threw her over my head into the direction of an already approaching Reimu, missing her as she sidestepped the flying Oni. Rumia rushed past me to confront Reimu and Nanatsu changed back to Shi no Taizai as she followed to continue her fight with Suika.

Things went wrong however, the moment that she tried to leave. Yukari appeared from one of her gaps and knocked her armored fist into the side of Nanatsu's head, sending her flying across the battlefield, hitting the ground several times and whirling dust and dirt up. Distracted by this, I couldn't do anything to block her next attack.

The punch from below into my chin that came from a gap sent me into the air, my jaw hurting like hell even before the next punch followed and sent me into the barrier. Yukari was in front of me when I opened my eyes, only to receive the next punch into my gut. And then another one. And another one. And, to make it worse, the punches were speeding up. She was getting faster and faster!

"I'm not the old woman you always try to make me, you know?" snickered Yukari sinisterly as if she had read my thoughts. Right before she pulled her knee up and buried it in my stomach, causing me to wince and double over, giving her the chance to strike an attack into my back.

I hit a tree from above, broke several branches and twigs as I crashed through it, only to eventually hit the ground beneath the tree. My world was spinning after at least two punches to my head (who knows how many more with the speed she had just displayed?) from her armored fists, and my whole body hurt all over...

But I wasn't out yet. I wouldn't just lose the first round like that.

Yukari fell down from above and tried to hit me with another punch, but I dodged. Because my world was still spinning, I didn't even know into what direction I rolled, all that mattered was that I got away from her. As she impacted with the ground, she caused dirt and dust to be whirled up, and even through that and all the blurriness, I could already see the huge crater she had just created.

With the help of a tree, I began to push myself onto my feet. Everything around me was moving and shaking, I felt nauseous and swear I would've almost thrown up right then and there. Damn Yukari... She was really exploiting the rules here. This was going to be one annoying battle if she kept on exploiting the rules like this.

I knew I couldn't just stand there, though. Yukari would resurface, and I would be in for one heck of a beating if that were the case. No matter how much my world was spinning... I had to get away from there.

Pushing myself off the tree, I stumbled away from it. No second too late, as the next thing I knew was that the tree was destroyed when something rushed into it. Without a doubt, Yukari.

_**"She's really not as much of an old woman as we always mock her to be... She's quite fast and agile."**_

_"We have other problems... My damn world won't stop spinning! Let's hope it stops soon...!"_

**"I'll see what I can do to fix that. Give me a moment."**

I hissed and tried to stop, once again unable to do so because my sense of balance refused to return to normal. Through the blurriness of green and brown of the trees, something violet grew in size, obviously meaning that Yukari came closer at an alarming speed.

When a powerful punch hit my stomach, I doubled over, hissed and snarled, felt how my own saliva ran down my chin. A kick into my side of an armored foot ripped me off the ground and I felt how I impacted with a tree. The following sound was enough to tell me that the tree fell over, I didn't need my sight for that.

But I'd need it for this fight...

_"Insanity!"_

**"Look, I'm doing my best to somehow get your sight fixed, but I fear Yukari messed something up in here. It will need time to regenerate on it's own!"**

_"Damn... What now? I can't win this fight if I can't see a thing!"_

**"I'll come up with something to replace your vision. For now, try to..."**

"Oh, you can't see anymore, huh? Looks like I hit a vital spot. Well, no wonder you don't even avoid..." whispered Yukari's voice into my ear. She didn't give me the chance to react, though, as she attacked immediately.

"HURGH!"

Another punch hit my chest and the tree trunk I was leaned against broke away and was sent flying along with me. My body bounced off something, probably the ground, and more pain shot through my body. I came to a stop somewhere close to Nanatsu and Suika, or at least I could hear them nearby.

Forcing my eyes open, I took in the blurriness of green and brown in hope to spot something violet, but couldn't. But I knew Yukari was nearby. I knew she would follow me. And attack me again.

Though my body felt in any condition but to do so, I used a tree that I found upon flailing my arms around to push me onto my feet. I tried my best to calm my breath down, my own panting too loud for me to hear anything else.

I heard Nanatsu gasp in pain, she'd must have been hit by one of Suika's attacks. Probably a rock that Suika had thrown, since I could hear a rock break right after. And god knows where Rumia and Reimu were... Probably fighting somewhere above us in the treetops.

Closing my mouth and swallowing the saliva and the little blood in my mouth from one of Yukari's punches, I listened to my surroundings.

And heard Yukari coming my way.

Steeling myself for the next punch, I changed in my position and placed a foot against the tree to solidify my position. And then, Yukari's punch came. Pain shot through my stomach as Yukari's punch impacted, yet I wasn't thrown through the air again, due to me absorbing the impact.

I heard Yukari's lips curling up into a smile... It was time to wipe that smile off her face.

My hands curled around Yukari's wrist. And the smirk was probably wiped off her lips.

"W-what?! But... I thought you couldn't see...!" I heard Yukari gasp, and couldn't help but smirk myself.

"I can't see... Everything is blurry but..." I began and tightened my grip around her wrist, "I can still feel. And your punch told me where your hand is."

Yukari let out a sharp gasp, but couldn't do anything else. My hands went ablaze in emerald flames and Yukari hissed in pain, followed by an even sharper hiss when my knee found it's way into her stomach. Her forehead hit my right shoulder, she must have doubled over, and I threw her over my head into the tree I had put my foot against.

Pushing myself away from the direction I had thrown her into, I switched to flying over the ground rather than walking. Hovering over the ground at an average speed, I used one hand behind my body to find any trees to prevent myself from crashing into them. With this speed, I wouldn't get too far away from Yukari, but I had to get as much distance between us as possible.

After all, I couldn't use the same strategy forever. I would have to experience pain every time to find out where Yukari was... At this rate, I was going to collapse before she even was exhausted in the slightest. I couldn't have Nanatsu or Rumia help me, though... They had their own fights.

For now, I'd have to stick with flying around blindly, avoiding Yukari as much as possible until Insanity, the Flame-Soul or I'd come up with some way to replace my vision somehow...

* * *

_Rumia's PoV_

I ducked underneath one of the ofuda, let myself fall off the branch I was on and put a hand onto it, swung myself around it, and then catapulted myself towards Reimu. The miko gasped and jumped off the branch she stood on, resulting in Tyrfing only hitting the branch she had stood on as I swung it down.

The branch hit the ground below, I turned in midair to place my feet against the tree, and then pushed myself off it to follow Reimu.

I engaged the miko in close-combat in midair. My kick was blocked by one of hers, I countered the gohei with the hilt of Tyrfing, and then spun in place for a kick. Reimu blocked that one as well, used the momentum to be thrown backwards into a tree, and I followed right after by a flap of my energy-like wings.

When Reimu threw a new wave of ofuda at me, I had no chance but to avoid by falling out of the air.

I landed on the ground right below Reimu and jumped backwards as more of the amulets flew into my direction.

And that was when I spotted him. Chôzen was stumbling around like some kind of idiot, hovered in a small height above the ground and flailed one arm around behind his back as if he was looking for trees. I couldn't help but frown at that. Until Yukari charged into his direction.

Leaving Reimu where she was, I jumped towards him and tackled him out of the way of Yukari's punch. Instead, it hit a tree and knocked it over, tore it straight out of the ground with roots and all. With a huge frown, I examined the strange kind of armor that Yukari wore...

"Rumia? Is that you?" I heard Chôzen ask, and glanced into his direction, never averting my gaze completely from Yukari. Chôzen didn't look good at all. He had a few bruises on his head and his shirt was ripped in a few spots, revealing more bruises. Deep imprints, rather than bruises. Without a doubt from the armored fists of Yukari. The worst thing, though, was that Chôzen was bleeding... From his nose, as well as his eyes.

With that amount of blood leaking out of his eyes, it wasn't that hard to see that he was blind.

"I can't see... Yukari is cheating again..." snarled my husband and rubbed his eyes, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away.

"Stop doing that... It's not making things any better..." I advised and then pulled him out of the way of another one of Yukari's attacks.

"I can't fight her if I can't see her..." winced Chôzen, and I shook my head in annoyance.

"We have to get away here..." I muttered under my breath and held him close, then pushed myself off the ground. We had to get away from Yukari first... And wherever Reimu was lurking.

"Is Reimu already defeated...?" asked the walking enigma.

"No. She's somewhere... Above." I replied, scanning the treetops for her.

"Damn... We're going to lose if this keeps up." he hissed, and I couldn't really disagree. Things weren't exactly looking good for us. The only one who managed to keep an advantage against her opponent was Nanatsu. She never gave Suika enough time to dissolve into mist, getting hit ever so often by that new hammer of Nanatsu. Maybe if she'd manage to defeat Suika, she could help us with our respective opponents...

A few ofuda rained down from above and forced me to change direction, Chôzen still in my arms. Really, wasn't it usually the damsel in distress that was saved by the knight in shining armor and held in his arms, rather than the other way around?

"Rumia, how do you see in darkness?"

"Huh?"

The sudden question from Chôzen caught me off guard. He had calmed his breath and had closed his eyes, wasn't staring into thin air anymore.

"I asked... How do you see in darkness? How can you see in your own darkness if there is no light? Your eyes work like everyone else's, don't they? So if there is no light, how do you see?" he repeated, baring his teeth for some reason.

"Well... I don't." I replied with a frown, still escaping Yukari and Reimu, "I feel the surroundings with my darkness... With my element. I can create something like a picture inside my head by feeling my surroundings with my darkness. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." was the simple reply, right before he suddenly pushed himself out of my embrace and jumped into the air above, "I'll be fine on my own! Take care of Reimu!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" I roared and stopped, turned around to catch him but was cut off when more ofuda hit the ground before me. Chôzen landed on the ground in some distance and began to run, something I couldn't help but think of as foolish since he wasn't seeing a thing. Especially since he was running back into the direction that Yukari was in.

Reimu jumped out of a tree and tried to hit me with her gohei from above, swinging it like some kind of dagger. Taking four steps back at once, I avoided the gohei and prepared to hit Reimu with a punch, but the miko avoided that by ducking and struck me in the stomach. When I doubled over, she rose and used her back to throw me over her, then tried to jump on top of me, which I managed to avoid by grabbing her foot and slamming her into the ground next to me.

_"Damn it, if I wouldn't see the reason behind hiding it, I'd blast her into the next decade with Kaibutsu..."_ went through my head and I glared down at my left hand, with which I usually wielded the Beretta named Kaibutsu. Since I didn't have it with me, though, I just clenched the hand to a fist and used it to push me up onto my feet again.

But not for long.

Reimu kicked my feet away and my body slammed into the dirt again. I winced in pain and hammered a fist into the dirt, had scraped a knee on a sharp stone during my fall. The miko, still on her back, pulled out five ofuda and aimed at me, causing me to snarl and push off the ground.

Flying in a position parallel to the ground wasn't easy at all, but at least it got me away from the ofuda before I lost the balance again and was forced to land on my side again.

"You skills increased, Reimu..." I called out as I rose onto all fours and dove behind a tree, "You're not even relying onto your spellcards anymore to give me a hard time!"

"I trained with Yukari, what do you expect? She trained me to fight, and especially you! From the moment on that we knew Chôzen, Nanatsu and you would join this tournament, we trained to win against you!" called Reimu back.

"Tch... Should've known! My dear half-sister..." I trailed off and growled loudly, then dismissed Tyrfing and scanned my surroundings for cover. And luckily, this forest turned out to be just like a real forest... Including bushes, tree trunks, flowers, everything.

Bushes were excellent for cover.

Glancing around the tree, I found Reimu doing the same from around another tree. I admit that sneaking isn't my thing, I rather enjoy battles at high speed, close combat and lots of blood.

I'll sneak this time, though. Now, all that remained was to keep Reimu occupied...

"So, did Yukari tell you to keep me busy while she'd fight Chô? Figures. She must have planned to fight him from the very beginning..." I called out, glanced around the tree, and found that Reimu wasn't looking right now. Rolling out of my hiding place and behind a bush, I silently began to sneak closer to Reimu in a crouched position.

"Well, I can't deny that. The outcome of this battle is perfectly planned through... I'd keep you busy while Yukari will defeat Chôzen with the armor she had created especially for this. Beneath the white color is a thick layer of iron, and the armor is forged by the Oni in the underground. It's so heavy that I can't lift it even a little bit... If that isn't going to knock through his thick skull, I don't know what will!" sniggered Reimu.

I closed my mouth and held my breath as I silently sneaked closer. And Reimu wasn't even suspecting a thing. I couldn't see her, but she had given away her location nonetheless with her voice. I could've also used my darkness to 'see' all around me, but it would only unnecessarily drain my powers.

"I admit that we never expected Suika to win against Nanatsu... Suika could keep up with her, but not when it comes to strategy... Nanatsu will eventually outsmart her. But at least she'd keep her occupied. Because that was what Yukari realized... Alone, you're strong. But together, you three are even stronger... You'll give Chôzen the strength he needs. So, if we fight each of you alone..." Reimu trailed off and began to laugh.

And I jumped out of my hiding spot.

Reimu's laugh remained stuck in her throat when I tackled into her. We hit the ground and rolled on it, Reimu hissed and tried to push me off, but I remained on top of her after we came to a stop.

"Sorry, but I don't think that you planned this through as perfectly as you think..." I chuckled and narrowed my eyes at the miko, couldn't help but smirk, "Because there is something you forgot."

The miko hissed and narrowed her eyes at me, frowned.

"What do you mean?" asked Reimu under a growl and finally managed to push me off her. I landed on my feet and waited as the miko rose to her own feet.

"Well... Did Yukari watch our training?" I inquired, only for Reimu to shake her head. And that caused my smirk to increase.

"Well... Let me tell you what you forgot." I breathed and chuckled, extended my left hand and opened my hand wide, summoning that which would give me a clear advantage. Reimu's eyes widened as she spotted the thing that had just appeared in my hand.

"You forgot... that neither of us is the same person as twenty years ago, Reimu."

* * *

_Nanatsu's PoV_

A sudden, sharp pain went through me and I stumbled, but regained balance before I fell to the ground. Suika uprooted a tree and threw it at me with the typical strength of an Oni, forcing me to switch back from Senkoku to Shi no Taizai, which I used to cut the tree in half before it hit me.

Suika, having used the cover of the tree, appeared before me in midair and swung one of her fists, forcing me to hold Shi no Taizai sideways to block the hit. When Suika's fist impacted with the hilt of the scythe, I was pushed backwards by her raw strength, even though my heels were digging into the dirt.

Coming to a stop in a distance to the Oni, I changed my position and charged back towards her in an attempt to slash her. The problem with Suika was, though, that she was a small target that tended to sway in random directions because of her being constantly drunk, so landing a hit was actually more of a random thing than anything else. And even then, her high resistance and her enormous strength made her a force to be reckoned with.

She toppled out of the way, fell back into my direction and tried to hit me in the stomach, which I blocked with the hilt of Shi no Taizai. Pulling the hilt upwards, I managed to throw her off balance by pushing her small fist up, but failed to hit her again when she toppled away.

_"Why does she have to be drunk all the time?!"_ shot through my head as I twirled around and swung the blade upside-down under my arm into the direction of the Oni, missing her by an inch when she reeled backwards.

_"But then again, only god knows in what mood she'd be when she's sober. I'd rather not find out."_ I added in thought and twirled around again and slammed the scythe down in an attempt to slash her. Suika caught the scythe just below the blade, pushed it back, and threw me off balance.

While I was stumbling back, she jumped into the air and swung one fist around. I had no time to avoid.

Instead of attacking me directly, though, she hit the ground to my feet with her enormous strength and caused me to lose my balance entirely. I fell onto my ass and hissed, clenched my eyes shut. As I opened them again, Suika stood in a little distance to me and punched the ground to her feet, breaking a large boulder out of it.

I gasped and quickly dove to the side, but had to abandon Shi no Taizai as it would've been in the way of my movements. The boulder landed right where I had been... On top of Shi no Taizai, to my shock. I knew that, even though the scythe was attached to my back with a chain, I would be able to move almost completely free due to the chains being magical in nature; extending to whatever length I would need them to be.

Okay, so the boulder wasn't going to be much of a problem to me in aspect of weight as well due to my quite colossal strength. The problem was that I'd need to stop for a moment to lift it. And that would give Suika a short moment in which I wouldn't be able to guard myself.

That aside, defeating Suika would be a small problem on it's own... She was an Oni, and even if I had the strength of an Oni, it wouldn't be exactly easy to defeat her due to her resistance and endurance. But then again, nothing I wouldn't somehow manage. In the end, I guess defeating Suika would be our smallest problem.

When the forest was enveloped in green light all of sudden, I could only stare into the forest in hope to spot something. Relatively fast, a response to this green light followed in shape of violet light just as bright.

Chôzen and Yukari had begun to duke it out, were going at each other with very little restriction. But not with full power. With full power, their fight would take days until one would defeat the other... I still wonder, though, how the two of them are going to keep this fight short. Would one of them eventually just give up once his teammates would be knocked out? Or would they cheat to defeat one another?

How far would Chôzen and Yukari really go?

Without a doubt, Reimu and Rumia were somewhere in this forest, fighting their own battle. I can totally imagine how the two of them are fighting in midair at speed I could only dream of ever reaching... And once in a while, the two of them would stop to assist Yukari and Chôzen respectively. That's just how they were.

"The fights have started for real..." commented Suika, catching me off guard as she usually was silent throughout a fight, "I guess it's not going as well as our gap hag wanted it to be."

"I imagine. What was Yukari thinking? That we'd be some kind of pushover?" I inquired and turned to look at the Oni. She stood in a small distance to me, her eyes resting on the forest as well. She made no attempt to fight me, and so I didn't as well. This was just a small break, discussing the actions of our partners. Unlike them, neither Suika nor I had this craving for a fight. Sure, Oni were known for their eagerness to fight, but even they didn't always show it.

"No... I don't think so. I think Yukari prepared herself pretty well for the fight against you, no matter when it would happen. But I can't help but think we'll still lose." replied Suika, pulled out her gourd of endless Sake, and took a long swig.

"Weird. I have the same feeling... That we'd lose against you. We're both pretty strong and the outcome of our fight may be completely random... Whoever gets tired first, or can't take the strength of the other one anymore. Rumia and Reimu... Well, it's the same as with us, whichever of them gets tired first. But Yukari and Chôzen is where we differ..." I sighed and stretched my back a little. It was then that I felt the hilt of Senkoku and remembered that I had that weapon as an alternative to Shi no Taizai.

"Hm? Differ?" murmured the Oni and attached the gourd back to a chain on her belt.

"Unlike Yukari, Chôzen can't just create or summon pretty much everything he'd need, you know? If she's with her back against her tree, she'll just summon a blade to cut the tree off. If Chôzen is rushing at her, she'll just summon a wall between them. And the worst thing is that she isn't even cheating, since the rules state that everyone may use his ability as long as it isn't deadly..." I groaned and rolled my neck.

"I see your point, but wouldn't Chôzen be able to just negate a hole into wall?" shot the Oni back, and I sighed again.

"We both know that his abilities don't work just like that, he can't deny specific areas or aspects of something... Doing that would take his entire concentration, and we both know he can't focus on one thing like that. That aside, he's not going to use them like that. Look, Chôzen may have come to accept his powers, but he still won't use them unless absolutely necessary. He sticks with the only aspect of his power that doesn't involve active negation... Using his element as a weapon, in shape of emerald flames." I huffed.

"He managed once... He did cleanse Mima of her own, corrupt energy, didn't he?" sniggered Suika and went back into a stance that told me that our fight was about to begin again.

"He did. But not only was his entire concentration on Mima, but according to what he told me himself, negating certain aspects of Mima feels for him like negating certain aspects of himself, which he does unknowingly. Apparently, Mima isn't that different from him... Not like I'd understand that. I guess only he can really understand his own power, and even he can't do that to the full extent." I replied, one hand in a position in which it would be easy for me to grab Senkoku without giving away that I was going to use it.

"Alright. Back to the fight then!" declared Suika. To my surprise, her next action was to pull some of her hairs out. I was about to ask when those dissolved into mist for a second, only to turn into Mini-Suikas in the next moment, which then charged at me.

Caught off guard, I abandoned my plan of reaching for Senkoku and instead jumped onto the boulder than Shi no Taizai was beneath, avoiding the miniature Suikas that way. Great, I had entirely forgotten about her ability...

I was forced to change my position again when one of the miniature Suikas picked another one up and threw it into my direction. so I jumped off the boulder and watched as the little Suika swung her fist down on the boulder with enough power to actually cause a few cracks in it's surface.

_"Each of the Suikas has the power of the original one as it seems... Damn. I really forgot about that. Better __keep an eye on all of them. If just one of them escapes my eye, I might suffer quite a lot of pain."_ I thought and balled my left hand into a fist for a second. When I opened it again, a red flame was burning in my palm, the hellfire.

"Hellfire, Level one..." I whispered under my breath, just to remind myself of the power of the hellfire within my palm. The Suika on top of the boulder bounced off it and threw herself right at me, and I unleashed the first burst of hellfire right then.

"Capable of setting an enemy ablaze." I added as I watched how the Mini-Suika fell to the ground and began to roll on it to extinguish the flames that had enveloped her. It was the same moment that the remaining Mini-Suikas ran around the boulder with their eyes closed and their hands thrown into the air, followed by the original one. If it weren't so serious, it actually looked like they were going to give me a big hug.

I hissed and jumped backwards away from them, the hellfire within my palm growing a bit in size, but also gaining a darker shade of red. Narrowing my eyes at the small creatures, I concentrated on the fire within my palm and aimed.

"Hellfire, level two..." I hissed as I threw the small orb that the hellfire had concentrated into, "An orb of fire that explodes upon impact and sets everything around it ablaze." Just as I finished the sentence, the orb impacted right in front of one of the two groups of Mini-Suikas and set them ablaze. Immediately, they dropped to the ground and started rolling.

One of the Mini-Suikas reached me and managed to grab my ankle. I hissed out as she pulled me out of my jump and threw me over her head into the crowd of the remaining Suikas. The worst thing about that was that their little hands tickled as they carried me, forcing me to bite down on my lower lip to hold back the laughter.

The next moment, it was the hand of the real Suika that laid around my right ankle and threw me over her head into the boulder, causing my pain to stop and be replaced by a loud hiss of pain as my back crashed into the solid rock.

I fell to the ground right in front of it and I landed in a crouched position, hissed and coughed. I felt the magical chain of Shi no Taizai on my back, I really wished that I could wield it right now, but I still wouldn't have enough time to lift the boulder to pull the scythe out underneath.

Looking up, I found the army of miniature Suikas running at me, followed by the real Suika. The problem with this would be that defeating the miniature Suikas wouldn't get me anywhere. Suika would just summon more of them... I had to defeat them and Suika at the same time, somehow. Or knock her out... That should end this.

"Hellfire, Level three..." I whispered and waited until the Suikas came closer, "Capable of..."

I pushed my left hand forwards, palm extended towards the miniature army charging at me. The fire burning within my hand let out a loud hiss as it was propelled out of my palm in a thin stream of flames, enveloping all of the Suikas before me.

"Capable of unleashing a continuous jet of flames." I finished, then pushed myself onto my feet. The miniature Suikas got up and began to giggle (which was creepy, giving the situation they were in) and then bounced off into the direction of a small lake that had been created along the forest.

Really, Oni were such annoying beings... Even the hellfire didn't hurt them as much as it should. At least not while they were alive. Then again, the hellfire was more effective against souls, as it couldn't burn the living like a normal fire. It hadn't been made to kill, it was made to punish the souls of the dead.

But it still hurt.

The real Suika, sadly, hadn't been enveloped in the jet of flames, and so, I narrowed my eyes at her and clenched my hand into a fist, turning the level three flame back into a level two one. Level three drained too much strength to use it against only one enemy like this.

We didn't say a single thing as we both jumped at one another. Suika wasn't much of a talkative fighter, something that I was grateful for. I mean, a good conversation during a battle wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed talking with Rumia or Chôzen during a fight... We mocked one another, teased and flirted. And even if the fight was not against Chôzen or Rumia, I enjoyed the conversations. But a silent fight was alright once in a while.

I laid my arms around Suika's waist and threw her over my head into the boulder, but she turned and placed her feet against it. This caused another crack in the rock, but didn't hurt Suika at all. Sadly.

I landed and turned, glanced to my right, and decided to use Suika's own tactics against her. Putting my arms around the tree aside me, I ripped it out of the ground and glared at Suika. She seemed to catch on pretty quickly, dove behind the boulder as I threw the tree at her. It hit the boulder and broke in two, then rolled out from behind the boulder and smashed a fist into the ground, breaking yet another boulder out of it

This time, I came prepared.

When Suika threw it, I charged into her direction and pulled Senkoku from my back. The hammer swung up and hit the boulder from below, caused cracks in it but also threw it up into the air. I continued to charge at Suika, and the small Oni jumped away from my attack.

Not that I had planned to hit her.

Standing in one line with the boulder before she had jumped out of the way, I used this small fact to smash the hammer down on the large boulder which still lay on top of Shi no Taizai. As the powerful hammer hit it, the already broken boulder finally broke apart entirely, allowing me to pick up my trusty scythe.

Small rocks continued to rain down on me, remains of the large boulder. I ignored them, glanced into the direction of the small Oni and narrowed my eyes at her. And knew how I'd manage to knock her out now. It wouldn't be exactly nice of me, nor exactly fair, but...

I'd blame it on Chôzen later on. After all, he was the first one to fall for this.

I pushed my left hand forwards and sent the orb of fire at Suika, well knowing that she'd just block it. Indeed she did, swung one of her chains to block the orb. But it had just been a distraction.

"HURGH!"

Suika toppled backwards with her head leaned backwards, then stopped and looked at me, blinked. Immediately, another rock impacted with her forehead and sent her reeling backwards again. I smirked, caught another one of the remains of the boulder, was reminded of when I threw billets of wood at Chôzen during our training, and threw the rock in my hand at Suika.

This time, the Oni used her chain to block the rock, but I was prepared. I caught another one, threw it at her. Again, Suika blocked, began to swing her chain in front of her body in a vertical circle to block any incoming rocks. And indeed, it just broke through all the small rocks I threw at her.

Until I let out a snarl, swung Senkoku into one of the rocks that still rained down, and broke it apart into nothing more but dust... And one, small rock, barely the size of my fist. It rushed through the air at incredible velocity, flew past Suika's chain, then buried itself in the face of the Oni and knocked her off her feet.

Suika flew backwards, smashed into one of the trees and knocked it over, but still continued to fly deeper into the forest, knocking over trees and ripping out bushes.

And then, in the distance, I saw how the yellow barrier lit up in orange, indicating that Suika just smashed into it and was held back. I sweatdropped, then looked down at the hammer within my hands.

Looking through the barrier, I saw the audience cheering and calling, their eyes glued onto me. Aya Shameimaru had jumped up and had hammered a fist down on the table of the judges, knocking Rinnosuke's coffee over. I wish I could hear them, really. But since the barrier stopped any sounds from outside coming in, I wouldn't.

I glanced towards the large billboard on which the teams and the setup of the tournament were shown. A fairy maid flew over to it just as I examined it, carrying a piece of red crayon, and drew a large cross over Suika's name.

Suika was out. I had really just knocked Suika out.

I glanced down at the hammer within my hands, the present I had got from Shikieiki.

_"Rumia was right. I love this weapon!"_

And now to find Chôzen or Rumia... Hopefully, I could be of assistance somehow. More than I had already been for Rumia.

Now that I remember that... I'm feeling a little exhausted. And not only because Suika got me more than I had wished for...

* * *

_Yume's PoV_

"With contestant Suika out of the picture, can this fight take a sudden turn? Until now Yukari has given Chôzen a hard time, and Rumia has been chasing Reimu around for the last few minutes. Now that Nanatsu can intervene in any fight, will things change?" echoed Aya Shameimaru's voice through the arena.

"Now that's your mother!" exclaimed Yajû and pumped a fist into the air. I rolled my eyes at that antic of hers, but couldn't help but smile as well. My mother, Nanatsu, had just knocked out an Oni. Sure, hadn't been exactly fair of her to use her strength like that, but according to the comment from Patchouli Knowledge, Suika would've done the same thing if she wasn't as drunk and would finally start to think her actions through.

Still, it surprised me that Suika Ibuki was knocked out from an attack like that. I guess that sledgehammer held more power than we all thought. Then again, getting a rock of that velocity into the face would knock out pretty much everybody.

"Mom is heading deeper into the forest... I bet she's trying to find Dad or Rumia to help them." I murmured as I saw how Mom left the clearing she had fought Suika on.

"Probably." was all that Yajû retorted, too engrossed with the battle underneath. Or at least, with trying to see it. We had lost sight of Rumia and Reimu long ago, they had vanished somewhere in the treetops. Once in a while, we could guess where Dad and Yukari were due to the lights that flashed in their respective colors, but they too were somewhere beneath the sea of green leaves.

I, too, was trying to spot the remaining battles. However, I was distracted when the door to the lounge flew open and another girl barged in.

"I'm back~!" she called out and stretched her back. Looking over at her, I recognized her to be the girl that had shown the terraforming magic earlier... Yúgure. I knew that name inside out now, that one judge had called it out often enough.

"Welcome back." smiled Koakuma and rose from her seat. Patchouli Knowledge looked up from her book for a moment, smiled, then took a sip from the porcelain cup with the tea inside that Koakuma had brought her earlier.

"Ah... This is really something. All the eyes were upon me..." giggled Yúgure and flopped down into a comfy looking armchair of a scarlet color.

"You enjoy this far too much, young devil." lectured Patchouli without looking up, "It seems that seeking refuge in Voile has not done you good. You crave too much attention. We should've never made you my assistant... You are too different from Koakuma."

"Oh please, as if that would've changed anything. I'm just more of a succubus. I love attention, no matter if male or female." laughed Yúgure and threw her head back. It was then that her gaze wandered over to me and Yajû, and for some reason, I began to blush the moment that she rose an eyebrow, the playful smile never once leaving her lips.

"Speaking of attention... I think I caught one in particular." breathed the succubus barely loud enough for me to hear. I cringed and twirled around, turned back to the window. I felt my face heating up to the point were it became uncomfortable, pressed my lips tightly together and swallowed the knot that began to form in my throat.

I really didn't enjoy attention at all. I'm just too shy for that!

Now imagine how I froze when two pale, slender hands snaked around my waist and gently stroke my stomach through the fabric of my black gothic-lolita dress. I was petrified, couldn't move, nor breathe. Hot breath hit the left side of my neck, a female body was pressed against my back and all I could think of was the beauty of it, followed by an otherworldly voice whispering sultry into my ear.

"And who might you be? What is the name of such perfection, my little gothic angel?" murmured the voice into my ear, the hot breath tickling my earlobe.

"N-ngh... No... G-go away." I whispered, no, pleaded, tried my best to fight it as my body became even hotter than before.

"I... S-stop." I added in a moan, which caught the attention of Yajû. My half-sister rose an eyebrow as she turned to me and observed me and the girl that was now feeling me up. And instead of helping me, she began to smirk.

"Way to go, Yume. Didn't know you were swinging that way, but hey, you already got yourself a girl. I'm almost jealous." smiled my half-sister. Seeing her like that, I felt rage well up within me. Sometimes, I just couldn't believe her! Here she was, seeing me getting molested, and all she could think of was that I might be a lesbian?!

I was about to get mad at her and start another fight (one that she provoked, as always!), the hot breath against my neck increased and caused me to freeze up again, meaning that the girl had come even closer.

"Yume, it is... Oh my. Yume... means 'the dream', doesn't it? Hm-hm-hm. You can invade my dreams anytime..." breathed the girl, Yúgure, behind me. I hissed, not in pain but in, what shocked me the most, pleasure. Whatever she was doing to me, it started to feel good. Was she molesting me with a single touch, just by putting her hand onto my stomach?

"Yúgure, would you kindly stop doing that?" asked Koakuma's voice behind me, and almost immediately, the hands on my stomach vanished and the body against my back retreated. Immediately thrown back into reality, I twirled around and pushed my back against the cool glass, stared in shock at Yúgure and the succubus behind her, Koakuma, who had put a hand onto her shoulder.

Yúgure was frowning at Koakuma, almost as if to ask why Koakuma had stopped her. I, on the other hand, did my best to stop my fast beating heart and my panting. Just what was that girl thinking?!

"Yúgure, please restrain yourself. I cannot have you jump at everything on two legs." huffed the older succubus, and then gently pushed the girl with the purple to red hair back towards the armchair, "Even if Yume looks delicious."

I cringed and backed away even further, as far as the window behind me allowed me to, and eventually dove behind my sister.

_"Raging lesbians! I'm surrounded by raging lesbians!" (3)_

"Damn it, Yume... We can't see anything from up here. They're all beneath the trees! We have to go to a deeper story to see them!" complained Yajû as she turned to me. And I hit her over the head.

"I'm getting molested, and all you can think of is the tournament? What kind of sister are you?!" I shrieked, but my younger half-sister just rubbed the back of her head and frowned at me.

"What? You were looking like you enjoyed it..." countered Yajû, causing me to get even more enraged.

"Like hell I was!" I complained and stomped onto the ground.

"Gee, where is Toki when you need him...? He'd be able to stop such a fight... Mukyuu." huffed Patchouli from the side.

"Whatever. Anyways... We should find a better spot. Somewhere in a lower story." commented Yajû nonchalantly and pushed past me, "Let's go, Yume. I don't want to miss Mom and Dad beating the crap out of aunt Yukari!"

With these words, Yajû left the lounge through the still open door, leaving me to follow her. In the end, I wanted to see the fight as well.

* * *

_Rumia's PoV_

"Stop running, Reimu!" I laughed as I jumped from branch to branch, "Why are you avoiding me?!"

During the last part, I charged up an orb of darkness in my right hand and threw it at the fleeing miko. She saw it coming over her shoulder, made a sharp turn, and the orb hit a branch instead and broke it. Making a sharp turn as well, I followed Reimu and cut her off on a big branch of a tall oak tree.

The miko gasped and rose her arms to defend herself, blocked my first punch and then managed to get a hold on my left wrist. She twisted it in hope that I'd let go of the object resting within my palm, the object she was so nervous about, but I merely chuckled and used my now free hand to punch her into the face.

Stumbling backwards, Reimu missed the branch and fell out of the tree. She managed to lessen the impact with her ability to fly, but still let out a loud growl as she hit the ground. I followed right away, jumped off the tree and gathered darkness energy at my right foot to hit her chest with it, but the miko rolled out of the way and threw an ofuda at me.

I cringed as it hit my chest and sent a wave of pain through me that felt like being hit by lightning, but didn't allow that to disturb me in the slightest. I summoned Tyrfing anew, the red veins began to curl up my arm as I did so and pumped new power into me from the legendary blade, and I swung the blade into the direction of the miko. Reimu rolled backwards, threw another one of the ofuda at me, this time causing a stinging pain as it placed itself on my skin, only to dissolve seconds later.

She got up on her feet and continued to stumble away from me, but I wouldn't let her get away just like that. I jumped right at her with Tyrfing above my head, but Reimu summoned a large Hakurei Seal in front of her on which the legendary blade just sled on and created sparks, not even damaging it in the slightest.

The seal dissolved and I turned on the spot to hit Reimu with a horizontal slash, but she blocked it with her bare hand, small seals at her fingertips protecting her fingers from the blade. Still holding Tyfing's sharp edge with her right hand, she used her left fist to punch me in the face.

I took a step back and hissed, but caught myself again and focused back on Reimu. She came in with another punch, which I dodged by leaning to the left and pulling my right leg up. Reimu winced when my knee hit her in the stomach and she doubled over, but avoided my elbow by pushing herself away from me.

She quickly returned however, a kick hitting my right side. I stumbled, grabbed her leg and pulled on it, but Reimu backflipped with her ability to fly and hit my chin from below with a kick during it. I reeled backwards, then decided against charging right back at Reimu and used the momentum to backflip, ending that backflip with my feet against a tree.

Reimu gasped when I threw myself at her from above with Tyrfing raised above my head, then quickly backflipped to avoid my attack. Tyrfing hit the ground instead, but my attack wasn't over yet. Calling out to Tyrfing, I asked the blade to continue.

"Tyrfing 'Blutnebel'!" (4)

Red veins spread over the ground and created a gigantic cobweb-like sign beneath our feet, followed by a red steam bursting forth into the air wherever two or more lines met.

Reimu was too close to one and hissed as she quickly hurried away from it, the hot steam forcing her to shield her face from the heat. I used this moment of distraction, turned Tyrfing and began to drag the blade over the ground, this time actually out of habit, since I was falling back into my old habits with the absence of Kaibutsu.

Seeing me coming, Reimu prepared herself. Right in front of her, I jumped into the air and swung Tyrfing down on her, only to be blocked once more by the gigantic seal, which actually pushed Reimu backwards this time. She broke it, all of sudden, and the resulting burst of power caught me off guard.

Being forced backwards into the air, I tried my best to catch myself with my own ability to fly, but hit the ground before I could do so. And then, Reimu appeared above me, a kick aimed at my chest. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, then quickly pushed myself off the ground to get away from Reimu's kick. Her feet, those Hakurei Seals beneath them to increase her the power, actually dug into the ground and created a small crater, and Reimu used the momentum of that small explosion to push herself after me.

She balled her fist even before she reached me, just as I jumped to my feet. Raising my left arm, I blocked her punch with my forearm and pushed it upwards in hope to send Reimu off balance, but it didn't. Instead, Reimu used the momentum to turn on the spot, one fist aimed at the side of my head. I blocked it with my right forearm and pushed it down, but Reimu just used that to frontflip, one foot slamming down on my back.

_"Shit... Reimu did indeed get stronger as she aged..."_ shot through my head as I pushed the foot off and rose to my full height. I slashed with Tyrfing and Reimu leaned out of the way, then jumped away from me and landed on a rock in a crouched position.

"Congratulations. I have to repeat myself... You've grown quite strong, considering the fact that you are actually keeping up with me... And that without the help of a spellcard." I growled and prepared for another attack. Reimu saw it coming, however, and jumped off the rock just before I hit it with Tyrfing.

"Either that, or you've gotten soft, carnivorous Youkai. Didn't you use to slaughter Gensokyo's inhabitants in your earlier days? Where is the power of the Youkai that has terrified every inhabitant of Gensokyo, including Yukari herself? Did you lose it when you got soft for that man? Or perhaps when you gave birth to his daughter?" taunted Reimu.

And hit a nerve.

I cringed as I remembered the days she spoke of, felt rage well up in me. I'd rather forget these days.

**"Don't listen to her words, Rumia. She is trying to get into your head... She must have learned how to do proper mindgames from Yukari. If you listen to her, she'll just manage to catch you off guard! That's exactly what she wants, for you to get angry!"**

Upon hearing the distorted voice of my insane side, I let out a hiss and relaxed a little. It was right. I shouldn't remember those days. I was a different person now... Chôzen had changed me.

That aside, I was pretty good at mindgames myself.

"Perhaps, Reimu... But what about you? Bet you've been screwing around with my sister, right? She's the clingy, affectionate type, after all." I shot back and lifted Tyrfing a bit. Glancing down at my hand, I watched the red veins curling up my arm for a short moment, then let out a deep huff and turned to Reimu, only to find her frowning at me.

"Why do I have the feeling that you know what you're talking about?" muttered the miko, drawing a few ofuda from her sleeve.

"Because I do? She is my half-sister, after all." I retorted.

The miko rushed at me again, pushed herself off the rock and jumped high into the air above me. She threw the ofuda from there, then followed them into my direction. I slashed through the amulets to get rid of them, then used my left forearm to block the gohei, and finally let go of Tyrfing and swung my right fist forward to punch her. Reimu hissed as the punch hit her into the gut.

I used this short second of weakness from Reimu to throw her over my shoulder. With her over my shoulder, I pushed myself off the ground and rushed up into the air, leaving behind both the ground and the trees. The ceiling of the arena came closer, Reimu began to struggle, but failed to free herself from my grasp. Just before I hit the ceiling, I turned around and placed my feet against it instead.

And at that point, all Reimu could do was gasp.

I threw her, threw her down at the ground below. She almost hit Tyrfing on the way, which was still dangling by it's chains on my wrist, then tried to break her fall with the help of her ability to fly. She indeed managed to slow her fall down, bu wouldn't stop it entirely.

Especially not considering that I pushed myself off the ceiling that moment to rush at her.

With my arms extended forward, I tackled into her and knocked all of the air out of her lungs. Reimu screamed in pain, then went silence as she lacked the air to scream. The trees came closer again and I couldn't help but smirk, especially as we slammed into them. Or rather, Reimu's back slammed into them, breaking twigs and branches on our way through the sea of green.

And suddenly, the ocean of green stopped and we reached the ground.

The sound of something heavy impacting with the ground echoed all around as the impact of Reimu's back caused quite a large crater in the ground. I didn't get away completely unscathed, but the excitement and the adrenaline numbed what little pain I felt from the impact.

Stepping off the heavily breathing shape of Reimu Hakurei, my lips curled up into a sinister smirk. I spotted a cut on her right cheek, probably from one of the twigs on our way down, and leaned down to slide a finger over it. With the drop of blood on my finger, I rose to my full height and took a few steps away from Reimu.

For a second, I thought I had beaten the miko, only for her to growl and push herself up. She was shaking and cursing under her breath as she bowed down to pick her gohei up, snarled as she rose and pulled more ofuda.

I watched all of that with great amusement, watched as she shook and panted.

"Oh, look at that..." I taunted and rose my right hand to the height of my eyes, a red pearl running down my index finger, "There is what you asked me for... The ferocity of the carnivorous Youkai that once threatened Gensokyo."

With that, I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out, gently licked up my index finger. The red pearl touched my tongue and unleashed a flavor in my mouth that I'd never mistake. And never before have I enjoyed a single drop of blood this much.

Even as the taste subsided, I gently ran my tongue over my lips. And then, I turned to Reimu, who still stared at me in her exhausted condition.

"Well, let's continue, shall we?" I giggled gently and rose my left hand, once more showing Reimu the object that she feared so much.

A single, black ribbon.

* * *

_Yume's PoV_

"Wait for me!" I complained as Yajû jumped down a flight of stairs. I followed her quickly, ran down the stairs. With a second jump, Yajû had reached the story below us and I followed, once again running down the stairs rather than jumping down. I wasn't exactly eager to sprain an ankle or anything.

"What were you complaining about, anyways? You got yourself a sexy girl already, so why complain about it?" shouted my sister over her shoulder, and I growled loudly.

The moment we reached that story, Rumia shot out of the forest and into the air, Reimu thrown over her shoulder. It seems she had this fight under control for now, but I was rather worried about Dad... He had the strongest opponent out of the three. Yukari Yakumo was a force to be reckoned with. But then again, Reimu was as well, and Suika had been. Still, Yukari was the most dangerous.

"Don't lazy around, Yume! We're going to miss the fight!" exclaimed Yajû as she leaped over the next flight of chairs and landed at the foot of them. I silently cursed under my breath, followed, even though I didn't feel like it at all. I wasn't that athletic, rather the opposite. I easily got exhausted.

When I reached the story below, I found Yajû frozen in her steps. And that for a good reason. A small fight was taking place in front of us... If you could call that small.

One of the combatants was a considerably tall girl with long, straight blonde hair that reached down to her waist, held in that position by nothing more than a black hairband. She had a braid on the left side, adorned by a blue star hair clip rather than a ribbon like Meiling or Sakuya had. Wearing a pair of brown boots and white, fingerless gloves, she looked kind of professional...

She wore an ankle-length, black cape that was held together at the front with a red bow over a white blouse and a short, red skirt. Around her waist was a golden chain, different from the one that Toki had, though, and attached to that chain was a blue book, which I suspected to be a grimoire. Furthermore, she had a red bag around her waist that seemed to contain a lot of useful things (at least, it seemed to be filled to the brim).

I don't know who she was, or what she had done... But whatever it was, it had got the other girl in quite a bad mood. At least, that seemed to be the reason for their fight. The other girl looked quite pissed.

The opponent of the blonde girl was a woman with long, green hair. A pink parasol was strapped horizontally onto her back in a way that would allow her easy access to it. Her skin was untainted and of an abnormal pale shade, almost as pale as the skin of the Scarlet vampires.

Her clothes were strangely that of someone not native to Gensokyo, a simple white tank-top with a black flower design on it and a pair of light blue jeans. Unlike most of the other inhabitants of Gensokyo I had seen so far, she wasn't even wearing boots or regular shoes, but a pair of sandals that allowed one to see her perfect, pink nails.

"What is going on here...?" I whispered into the ear of my younger sister as I leaned towards her, but Yajû just continued to frown at the small fight before us. Well, then again, you could hardly call it a fight... The blonde girl was getting beaten around. She didn't have any chance against the pale girl.

Seeing that, and how Yajû wasn't going to do a thing at all, I took a deep breath. I was shy... Too shy to look at strangers while I talk with them, too shy to speak to new people. But there was one thing that I did even more... I hated to see someone being unfair on somebody else.

And so, I put a hand onto the shoulder of the pale girl with the green hair and pulled. The strength that I had inherited from Mom kicked in and I pulled the green-haired girl away from the blonde, then pushed her against the wall a little rougher than I had planned to.

"What's the deal with you? Are you always picking on others?" I growled lowly, staring the green-haired girl into the face. And now that I saw her front, I immediately remembered her.

It was Yuuka Kazami. At least, that was what she had been introduced as to everybody. She must have changed her clothes, but aside that, it was definitely her.

The same red, somehow dangerous eyes...

"I was going to ask you the same thing." shot the green-haired woman back, only to display her own tremendous strength as she managed to free herself from my grip just by shrugging with her shoulder. With my hand shrugged off, the green-haired woman rose to her full height again and glared down at me.

"What did she do to you to deserve such treatment?" I snarled and nodded over to the blonde girl that was now staring at us in shock.

"She was annoying me." came the curt reply from Yuuka. Seeing her left hand twitch, I acted immediately and took a step back to get some distance in between us, just enough for me to get a hold on the pink parasol that she swung at me from below.

Now in a small distance to her, I narrowed my eyes at her and examined her again shortly, this time noticing the two necklaces dangling around her neck, even though I couldn't see the pendants as they had swung over her right shoulder during her attempt to hit me with the parasol.

"Who are you?" hissed Yuuka and narrowed her eyes at me, "Who are you to be able to stop my attacks just like that? You must possess strength rivaling my own..."

"None of your business for now. Now leave that girl alone!" I snarled, then pushed the parasol away. Yuuka wasn't thrown off balance like my usual enemies, showing that we had indeed about the same strength. My mother hadn't been lying when she had told me about Yuuka and her strength.

"Fine... I'll accept defeat this time. But remember... This wasn't the last time we saw each other." growled the Flower Youkai, fastened the parasol to her lower back again, and then turned to leave. She stopped, however, and glanced back at the blonde she had been fighting against.

"You were lucky this time, Kirisame. Next time, you won't get away with your self-centered behavior. You live without a care in the world, just like your mother once did... You shouldn't follow her steps so much. Rather than that, you should start to grow up, you childish brat." snarled Yuuka at the blonde.

And with that, she finally stalked off, leaving me to stare after her, and finally get a glance at the two golden pendants hanging over her shoulder. Sadly, not long enough to make out what they depicted. But at least I could tell that they were of a golden color.

I still continued to glare after her, even as she rounded the next corner. I didn't like people like her. In fact, hated them so much that I became an entirely different person around them...

"Nice, didn't know you had it in you, Yume!" laughed Yajû and patted my back, "That's my sister!" I sent a glare into her direction, which eventually changed into a frown, and then, I let out a deep sigh and turned to the blonde girl that had watched everything until now.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"Sure am. She is a tough opponent, but not as rough as she likes people to believe." smiled the blonde girl and stepped up to us, then bowed, "Thanks for saving me, though. I really annoyed her this time, I guess... Oh, by the way, my name is Hina Kirisame."

"Yume Gekido..." I muttered, feeling my shyness return slowly, "'And that's my half-sister, Yajû..."

Hina smiled widely at that and rose to her full height, which was around Yajû's height. Considering that, she should be around 1,65m in height. That was my guess, at least.

"You're new here, aren't you? Haven't seen your face before, and I've been around a lot in Gensokyo with my mother." smirked the blonde girl, and both Yajû and I nodded.

"First day in Gensokyo. Grew up outside." murmured Yajû and scratched her right cheek a bit.

"Must have been pretty interesting. Not that Gensokyo is boring, no! I had quite a lot of fun... Some people my age are quite fun to be around... like Kaze, Niji, Kokoro or Kyôkai. Others, then again, can be a little complicated to be with... like Hanabira, History or Yúgure... I don't even know how old the last one is, though. I think she's way older than a century, though..." mused the girl, which I eventually just couldn't help but describe as a witch. Something about her appearance just screamed 'magician'!

Of all the names she used, none sounded too familiar. Aside Yúgure, but I knew what she meant. That succubus girl wasn't exactly someone I'd trust blindly. Not after that move on me earlier!

"I don't think we know anyone aside Yúgure. Care to introduce us to the others?" smirked Yajû and leaned onto my right shoulder, something she knew that I hated, especially since she was making fun of me and my shorter height, despite being the older one, that way.

"I guess it wouldn't be that much of a problem... Finding them in this crowd will be, though. Most of them should be with their families. What I should be as well, by the way. Mom is going to kill me for sneaking off on my own..." sighed the magician and scratched the back of her head.

"Doesn't sound too pleasant. Is she that strict?" chuckled Yajû, to which Hina shook her head.

"Nah. Mom is just Mom, I guess. Besides, she has all right to be worried... The last time when I walked off I..."

Both Yajû and I watched in confusion as Hina trailed off. Her eyes suddenly lost all their spark and became dull and empty and she turned her head away, began to chew on her lower lip.

"You what?" inquired my half-sister, but Hina merely shook her head.

"I don't like to talk about it... Neither do I like to think about it. Please excuse me now... I should really find my parents." murmured the magician, then turned to leave. I shared a short glance of confusion with Yajû, wondered silently if it was something we had done, but eventually decided to leave her be. This Hina girl seemed to be fine, but something was bothering her. And I wasn't going to butt into her business.

"Well, that was weird. Now... We should really find a spot from where we can watch the battle or we are going to miss the rest of it. You coming?" inquired Yajû with a small frown, and I merely nodded. Without another word, the two of us turned to the next flight of stairs to descend another story, in hope to see the battle from there.

Out of curiosity, I glanced left and right ever so often as we approached the stairs, the many different faces and species all around me leaving me in awe. But it was also because of that which made freeze in my steps, staring in shock into the crowd.

Standing near the other staircase was Yuuka. And despite the battle on the battlefield, her eyes were resting on me. I felt how a knot began to form in my throat, the full extent of my actions earlier finally coming through. Not that I regretted them. But a single thought shot through my head that moment.

_"I just made myself an enemy in Gensokyo... My very first enemy."_

A small group of chatting tengu, one of the few species of Youkai that I could identify easily, passed in between the spot where I stood and where I could see Yuuka, and just for a few seconds, I lost sight of her. And as I finally could see the spot where she stood again, she was gone. It felt like a scene out of a movie, felt cliche... But could I really care that moment?

I shook my head, tried to get the uneasy feeling out of my mind. Trying to distract myself from the green-haired Youkai I had angered, I glanced into the other direction, away from the spot I had seen her. And thus, I saw something else that confused me, and opened an entirely new riddle.

Moving through the crowd was Toki... It was him, wasn't it? A little paler than before, perhaps, and a little smaller, but that could've been a simple illusion due to the distance between us... But the same, pointy features and build. But if it was him... Then why was he female all of sudden? This time, he was female... Wasn't he? I had only caught a glimpse of his face and his build before he vanished in the crowd again, but... It had been him, I'm sure.

_"This is getting confusing. But... Could it be that his ability is to shift gender? That'd explain how Yajû and I missed the fact that he was male all along. If he had been female as we met him and had changed as we watched the battle begin... Then it'd make sense. And that would explain why Koakuma had been so amused before by the entire situation. She must've known about his ability to shift gender..."_ I thought, gnawing on my lower lip.

"Yume, are you coming? I found the perfect spot! I can see Dad again! And he isn't doing good!" hollered Yajû's voice, pulling me back into reality. I gasped upon realizing what she had just told me and turned back to the stairs. With a few quick steps, I began to descend the flight of stairs.

_"No! Dad can't lose! It's too soon!"_

I jumped down the remaining stairs, not caring anymore about possibly spraining an ankle. I immediately spotted Yajû and began to run towards her, but almost bumped into a small, blonde-haired girl. I stopped to see if she was alright, bowed down to be at her height.

I was greeted with big, teary eyes.

"I can't find my mother! Help me find my mother!"

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV_

"How are you doing that?!" I heard Yukari snarl from somewhere in front of me. I opened my eyes a bit and my blurry vision revealed that something violet, which was definitely Yukari in her outfit, stood a few yard in front of me.

"How am I doing what?" I asked innocently, even though I was well aware what Yukari was referring to. I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath, cold but fresh air of a forest filling my lungs. I exhaled, relaxed, concentrated.

The blackness, the void of sight, was slowly replaced by something else. It remained black, but green lines began to draw themselves in the darkness, creating the shapes of trees, bushes, falling leaves, a barrier in the distance, but also of a humanoid woman only a few yard in front of me.

These shapes lacked detail and color, were black. The humanoid woman had no pupil in her eyes and even though her mouth was open as she shook ever so gently, revealing that she was indeed breathing heavier than before, I couldn't make out each tooth on it's own. Rather than being made of single leaves, the treetops also were rather a lot of green lines creating a messy, green ball of wool.

But at least I could see things clear, and not blurry.

"Don't play dumb on me! You've been avoiding my attacks as if you can see them... But your eyes have been closed the entire time! So how do you see them?!" snarled the Sukima no Youkai, leaving me to snort in amusement.

_"Thank you for that, Rumia. Using the negative energy that is all around me, the negative energy that floats in the air, to 'feel' my surroundings... I would've never thought of that if it weren't for you and your control of darkness."_ I chuckled inside my head, remembering how Rumia would see in her own darkness. Using the 'element' you control to 'feel', and thus project an image into your head of, the surroundings... Clever.

"I don't." I replied, not even lying. I really didn't 'see' them coming... I rather 'felt' them coming, I guess.

"Tch! Curse you... I don't know how you do it, but it doesn't matter, anyways! A few more hits from this armor and you'll be sleeping for a while." growled Yukari, and I snorted, this time in annoyance.

"Sure I will. That damn armor is either going to knock my brain out of my head, or will just damage it to the point where I won't be able to do anything anymore!" I huffed, only to continue with a mocking tone, "But it's just Chôzen! I, Yukari Yakumo, will be exploiting just another rule with this... Since he can't die forever and will wake up fully recovered after a few minutes, I am not killing him. Not permanently!"

"Damn you!" hissed Yukari.

"But it's just our poor immortal Chôzen. I can do that to him without as much as a hint of guilt. He's not dead, like I said!" I continued with the mocking tone. And ticked Yukari off that way.

She threw herself at me, one of her armored fists above her head. I dodged by falling to the left, then threw an emerald flame at her. Yukari deflected the orb with the back of her right armor and it impacted with the barrier nearby, causing a violent explosion of green color.

I knew better than to use the negative energy that I made unstable like that on purpose, but then again, I had to risk everything against Yukari. Who knows, maybe a few of those will stop her... Or at least break that damn armor. If I'd see properly, I would negate that armor... Since it's an object separate to Yukari, there would be no risk of negating her as well.

The only problem: I'm not going to negate anything without being absolutely sure about what I am doing! And with the temporary loss of my sight and the lack of detail with this replacement for my vision, I was certainly not going to negate anything!

Well, means I have to stick with the violence.

This time, I attacked first, charged towards the Sukima with blazing hands. Yukari blocked the swipe with the back of the armor that surrounded her right forearm, my fingers sliding along the sturdy, white material. I stumbled past her, twirled on the spot and swung a fist at her, which Yukari dodged just by leaning to the side.

Her foot hit me in the side and I snarled, didn't move from my spot, though, and put an arm around her foot. I pulled, tried to throw her off balance, but Yukari hopped closer and instead punched me into the side of my face, once more knocking me through the forest until I hit a tree.

So much violence... She was stronger and faster than I had ever given that old granny credit for. She was right, as it seemed... She had the vitality of a 17 year old girl, but the strength of at least an Oni with that armor.

With my replacement vision, I spotted Yukari flying into my direction, and quickly rose to my feet. Yukari vanished from my 'sight' all of sudden, meaning that she had entered one of her gaps, and reappeared right before me from another gap with her fist above her head.

I crossed my arms in front of my body and summoned a shield of emerald flames in front of me, blocking the powerful punch of the Sukima. It still carried enough power to push me back a bit, but didn't hurt me. With Yukari pulling her fist back for another punch, it gave me a small window of opportunity to counterattack.

My bony hand began to glow, the green lightning that connected my black bones lashed out as I overloaded it with negative energy. I swung it forward before Yukari could punch me, and the black bone connected with Yukari's left armor as she pulled it up to shield her face.

Upon impact, the fist covered in unstable energy blew up.

We both stumbled backwards, thrown off balance by the power of the explosion. I was the first one to regain balance, and thus the first one to spot the remains of the armor that had covered Yukari's left arm until now.

Shards of the white material were on the ground before me, revealing that the inside of the armor was, as I had suspected before, a thick layer of solid iron. Not that I could see it, but the shiny surface that I spotted through the blurriness as I opened my eyes was all that I needed to know what it was.

No wonder that these punches had caused me that headache!

I quickly closed my eyes again to feel for Yukari with the negative energy around me, and found that she had managed to rise to her feet. She was leaned forward and was panting, her left arm no longer covered in a thick armor but what remained of it.

"Damn you..." growled the Sukima no Youkai and rose to her full height again.

"You're repeating yourself, Yukari. What's the matter? Isn't it going like you want it to?" I huffed in amusement and rolled my right shoulder. It hurt like hell after being pushed back by the force of the explosion... Looks like I wasn't going to pull that stunt again. And yet, Yukari still had three more pieces of that armor...

"Like hell I'm going to let you ruin this! I have the advantage here! I know your fighting style in and out!" shouted the Sukima and moved her right, still armored arm in front of her, "Let's see how you'll deal with this!"

A small gap appeared in front of her arm and she thrusted it inside. Her hand passed right through the gap, but the armor changed as it passed through the armor, grew in size. The moment that the piece of armor was through the gap, the gap vanished.

I narrowed my eyes at Yukari, who now carried a gigantic piece of armor around her right arm, so heavy that she had to rest it on the ground. It looked like a gigantic white shield strapped to the back of her forearm, and I knew that I was going to have a hard time destroying that thing somehow, as it looked even sturdier than it had done before.

And that aside, she still had her feet encased in that armor...

"You think you know my fighting style, huh?" I huffed and set my hands ablaze in emerald energy again, "I believe I have to disappoint you."

The Sukima frowned, but then let out a huff and rose her right arm and the heavy armor. She slammed it down on the ground again and followed with a few steps, then rose it again and placed it down in front of her, only to follow again.

It was obvious that even she had problems wielding that thing, no matter her strength. I guess Nanatsu, Yuuka or other people with the necessary strength would be able to lift it, but in the end, Yukari was not one of them.

Her real strength rested within her sneaky tricks.

I charged up my right fist again, this time not for a direct attack, though. Jumping high up into the air, I also pushed my fist forward and released the charge within my right hand. A green orb burst forth and flew towards Yukari, and the Sukima no Youkai immediately placed the shield-like armor in front of her and hid behind it, like I had planned.

But, unlike the other piece of armor before, this one just absorbed the force of the impact, didn't even suffer a single scratch as the orb blew up upon impacting with it.

I let out a snarl and decided for a direct attack, changed my position and fell towards the Sukima no Youkai. Yukari saw me coming, without a doubt, as she glanced around her shield and smirked sinisterly. Landing right in front of the shield, I danced around it and went in for a punch, but Yukari pulled the shield-like armor towards me with all her strength and hit me in the side with it, pushing me away from her.

Hissing in pain, I still managed to move and turned back to her, jumped into the air to get over the shield-like piece of armor, but was surprised by Yukari another time when she lifted the armor and leaned back, holding it slightly into the air, just enough for it to be in between her and me.

And then, the heavy thing slammed into me again and knocked me into the ground, increased my pain and made me aware just how badly hurt I already was. But I still had to continue on.

...And maybe, I have just what it takes to put me back in advantage AND get rid of that armor.

I threw weak bullets at Yukari as I rose to my feet and took a few steps to bring some distance between us. She blocked all of them with the shield-like armor, then opened up a gap behind her. The eye inside released a thin laser of a red color that cut through the ground as it neared me, and forced me to unleash some more of my energy into another shield of green flames in front of me.

I waited until the laser had passed over me before I dismissed the shield and focused on Yukari. I took a step back, went into a crouched position and narrowed my eyes. My feet went ablaze in green flames as I pushed negative energy into them, as did my hands.

More gaps opened behind Yukari and the eyes inside released a whole lot of those lasers, but I ignored them for now. They wouldn't become lot of a problem with what I had in store for Yukari.

She thought she knew my fighting style in and out? Well, she was in for a surprise!

I aimed for a last time, made sure that there was nothing in the way between me and Yukari. The flames around my feet and my hands flared again, I glanced into the forest to my left when I spotted Reimu being chased by Rumia shortly, and then returned my attention to Yukari.

I began to gather negative energy within my body, stopped pushing it into my feet and hands for a short second, and then unleashed the entire energy at once through them as I pushed off the ground.

"Negative Bullet!" I announced loudly.

The highly charged and incredibly unstable negative energy wrapped around my body and unleashed it's properties as I willed it to. Air resistance and gravity were negated around me, I was practically in a free fall towards Yukari.

She gasped and lifted the heavy shield, which she had rested on the ground to her right, but it was to no avail... She didn't get it in front of her in time.

My body slammed into hers and I heard Yukari scream in pain, the raw and highly charged negative energy pouring into her body like it had done to Mima twenty years earlier, when I first used the attack again after three centuries.

I pushed Yukari through the entire battlefield, slammed her into trees, stones and bushes on the way... Not that I could stop just like that. Once unleashed, 'Negative Bullet' refused to stop for a few seconds due to the negative energy used during it being so enormous and raw in power.

We only came to a stop as we slammed into the barrier on the other side of the battlefield, where I also stabilized the negative energy, just to pour it through my palms into Yukari's body. As I did, green light began to pour out of her eyes and her mouth and she screamed in utter pain.

With the negative energy gone, I pushed off her and landed on the ground, stumbled a few steps back, then watched Yukari. The Sukima remained in that position until the last remaining bit of negative energy poured out of her system through her eyes and her mouth, then fell forward. She managed to regain balance just before she fell flat onto her face, but she still was coughing and choking, staring at me in shock and pain.

To be honest, she looked like she had just been electrocuted.

She eventually took a deep breath and choked a last time, then rose to her full height and coughed. And then, before she managed to even do a thing, the white armor that had remained on her body broke apart. It must have been the impact, the force and velocity with which I had slammed into her, that had damaged the armor enough to shatter just like that.

No matter what it had been, the gigantic shield and the white boots that had remained of the armor shattered into pieces and fell to the ground all around Yukari.

"Now look at that." I snickered as I watched through my replacement vision how the armor broke, "Looks like your armor wasn't as efficient as you wanted it to be, right? Heh. So much for knowing my fighting style, Yukari."

"Damn you!" hissed Yukari in between her panting, this time with malevolence dripping from her voice. Her breath picked up speed and she bared her teeth in a nasty snarl.

"Like I said earlier..." I snorted with mockery in my voice, "You keep on repeating yourself."

"Then let me tell you something you haven't heard in a while... Oh, Gekido, Yukari Yakumo always has a Plan B!" bellowed the Gap Youkai and balled her fists. She took a step back, narrowed her eyes at me, and then lowered her voice to a dark tone as she announced that which she was referring to as Plan B...

"Abandoned Line 'Aimless Journey to the Abandoned Station'..." hissed the Sukima, and the ground began to shake as a large gap opened behind her, "...~Oblivion Train~!" (5)

I let out a snarl as I remembered the powerful train of Yukari. A train with no one inside it, a train with no goal, guided by nothing at all. Abandoned line was a very fitting name... The train was no longer in use, abandoned, and the station he was traveling to was no longer, abandoned as well... Aimlessness was it's real goal.

Taking two steps back at once, I was about to jump into the air, away from the train that unmistakably coming my way, but Yukari interfered with my escape. A gap opened beneath me and two hands burst forth from it, grabbing my ankles and holding me in place.

"Stop!" I bellowed, struggling against the hold of the hands. More hands appeared from the gap and held onto my ankles, pulled me down and made it harder for me to struggle against them. I heard the train coming my way, increased my snarl and glared at the Sukima (at least what I suspected to be her, I still couldn't see anything through the blurriness) as I continued my attempt to wriggle myself free... To no avail.

As I finally spotted the lights of the train in the gap, the tunnel, I let out a deep sigh and waited for the pain to come. I would never manage to charge up enough negative energy in time to stop it or damage it.

I spoke my last prayers, well knowing that this would knock me out for the rest of the day.

Well, my prayers were answered... Only wasn't it someone from heaven that came to save my ass, but someone from hell.

"KYAH!" roared a loud, female voice. I heard Yukari gasp and quickly closed my eyes again to 'feel' my surroundings and create a green and black version of it inside my mind. And there, I spotted Nanatsu rushing out of the forest, Senkoku in her hands.

She charged towards Yukari, twirled Senkoku once in her hands. The train shot out of the gap and rushed towards me, but Nanatsu let out a loud growl and swung the sledgehammer. It knocked into the side of the first wagon and caused a deep dent into the side of it, but also threw it over.

Through my replacement vision, I watched in shock as the entire train fell over and sled on it's side, missing me only by a few inches. The earth shook and the train roared and screamed as it sled over the ground, it's wheels spinning like mad.

And at the side of this disaster stood Yukari, staring blankly at the chaos. Stared blankly at the remains of her oh-so-wonderful plan.

Suddenly, Rumia shot out of the forest and knocked into Yukari. The Sukima let out a gasp of surprise and fell to the ground, rolled on it. The Angel of Death, however, didn't stop, rushed past Nanatsu and towards me. Her foot slammed into one of the hands that held me in place, resulting in it fleeing back into the gap along with the rest of the gloved hands.

Now free, I immediately used my new freedom to move towards Yukari, slowing down as I closed in on her. She had recovered again and had stood up, but was still too shocked and just stared at us.

"Well, sis, looks like your great plan didn't work, huh? You got us good, but you didn't defeat us. In the end, you even lost. So much for your great advantages." sniggered Rumia and stretched herself.

"Where is Suika? And Reimu?" asked the Sukima carefully, narrowing her eyes at us.

"Well... Suika is out cold. She found out just how strong Senkoku is." snorted Nanatsu and leaned the sledgehammer onto her shoulder.

"Reimu? I don't have a clue. She received a good beating from me, then went into hiding. She should be somewhere in this forest... I bet she has already accepted your defeat." laughed Rumia and shook her head in amusement.

"Defeat? Why do you keep on saying that I have been defeated?! I have many more tricks up my sleeve! I am not going to be defeated just like this!" roared Yukari, "What makes you think that I am defeated?!"

At this, I just glanced to my left, where Nanatsu stood, then to my right, where Rumia was. After sharing a glance with each of them, Nanatsu just nodding and Rumia shrugging once, I turned back to Yukari. And then, rose my hands to the height of my chest and turned the palms around so that they were pointing upwards.

Yukari frowned at me, and I bet she was about to ask what I was waiting for... The answer came in shape of two ribbons that appeared out of thin air and laid into my palms. One of them was black, the other one was gray.

Yukari's eyes went wide and her irises shrunk. Her mouth fell open.

Oh yes, she had forgotten about that... Had forgotten about it, the ritual of bonded hearts, the ritual which allowed one to share his power with another individual, allowed them to pass energy back and forth in between them. And since I was the first and only one so far that had performed the ritual a second time, despite my first wife still being alive and bonded to me, I was the only one so far that could summon two ribbons at a time...

I was the only one that could accept power from two beings at once.

A surge of power went through me and I doubled over, and yet managed to move the gray ribbon from my right to my left hand, where the black one already rested.

The incredible feeling that I had felt twenty years earlier during my battle against Mima returned. All exhaustion was pushed out of my system and no pain seemed to matter anymore. I knew this was just temporary, but it still felt great.

My senses enhanced, I smelt things I should've not been able to, and my sight focused again, allowing me to see properly. That would be temporary as well, as soon as I'd let go of the ribbons I'd only see blurriness again, but that didn't matter. I wouldn't need it after that for a while...

Glancing to my two wives, I found that both of them were in pain, a side-effect of giving your power to someone else through the ritual of bonded hearts. But I knew that both of them accepted this pain as necessary... Indeed, if we wanted to beat Yukari now, I would need this kind of advantage.

I began to gather negative energy again, but like it always did once I used the power of both ribbons at once, the energy that I gathered was gray. The flame that surrounded my black, bony hand was of a light gray color, and the energy that had formerly been lashing out once charged had taken the shape of seven small, gray flames that orbited around my right wrist.

"Hmpfh. Sorry, Yukari... But you did not plan everything through. I'm sorry... Maybe you did remember our fighting styles from back then and came up with a way to counter them... But you forgot that we changed. Your forgot that we all changed... No one is the same person as back then, a fifth of a century lies in between us." I muttered and began to charge my body again.

"So... Nice to meet you again, Yukari. Let's have a nice chat and get up to date, alright?" I smirked, just as I felt my power reach the level I needed it to be, "When you wake up again tomorrow. Go to sleep, Yukari! Nighty-night!"

"DAMN YOU!" roared the Sukima, just as I pushed myself off the ground and charged at her, the ribbons still in my left hand.

"NEGATIVE BULLET!"

I tackled into Yukari and she screamed out, but I did not push her across the entire battlefield this time. Rather than that, we just remained in place... But the ground beneath her feet imploded, creating a gigantic crater. The gray negative energy was hissing loudly as it was discharged into Yukari's body. Gray light poured out of her eyes and her mouth, even as I pushed myself off her and landed at the side of the crater.

Yukari was twitching madly, was shaking, turning and tossing in midair, her scream high-pitched and full of torment... And then, as if a possession of an evil spirit had come to an end, she slumped and went limp, fell to the ground and landed on her face. She didn't get up again, didn't even attempt to. She was out cold.

Seeing that, I let go of both ribbons, and reverted immediately to my old state. My vision became all blurry again, the gray energy turned green, and my enhanced senses reverted to their old state as well. Both Nanatsu and Rumia took deep breaths and relaxed, the pain immediately gone.

Yukari was defeated.

"...Phew. Now that was something." commented Nanatsu as she glanced at the unconscious Sukima. I merely took a deep breath and closed my eyes, relied onto my replacement vision again. Keeping my eyes open was exhausting...

"Not a bad start back into Gensokyo and it's ways, right?" sniggered the Angel of Death and stretched her body, "Oh well... That leaves only one. Care for a hunt? I believe it's miko season."

"No need to hunt me down." came the reply from behind us, and I turned my head around. My replacement vision showed me the shape of Reimu not too far from us.

"Oh, how boring. Ah well... Let's knock you out and move on to the next battle!" exclaimed Rumia, and I heard how she summoned Tyrfing.

"Once again, no need to. You don't have to defeat me... I give up. I know when I don't stand a chance, and it's clear that I'd stand no chance against the three of you without Yukari or Suika.", sighed Reimu, though with a smile on her lips.

"I'm not saying that we didn't stand a chance... Rather than that, I believe that this fight could've turned out very different, with you losing. But you were right... Yukari didn't think this through enough. Or maybe too much, who knows?" added the miko with a shrug and began to pace a bit.

"Either way, she was too confident in herself. She thought that she had a clear advantage due to the fact that she had observed your fighting styles from back then, as well as the fact that she had a few information about this tournament that you were lacking. Her confidence was what led our downfall. In her confidence, she entirely overlooked the possibility that you changed in twenty years, and your true power." continued Reimu, pacing back.

"In the end, I guess what she really missed in her plans, though, was the strength of you three combined. It may sound cliche, but you three are incredibly powerful together. As long as each of you knows that the other two are going to back him or her up, you hold a very special power. And if you three fight together, you are even stronger. You possess the power to act as a team, but also the power to give one of you the combined power of you three." Reimu trailed off and stopped, then glanced at us.

"Remember that. Because that is my advice for you... And the wish that you three make it to the finale. Even if it's just to see the dumbfounded face of Yukari, who was under the assumption that you'd fail against her." laughed Reimu lightheartedly... And then, threw her hand into the air, shooting a single, red bullet into the air.

It exploded high above our heads into a colorful mixture of white and red... And around us, everyone jumped up and began to cheer, even though we couldn't hear it because of the barrier. That single bullet had been Reimu's sign of surrender.

_~ Music ends ~_

I watched as Fairy Maids flew to the large billboard and drew large, red crosses over the names of Reimu and Yukari. One of the Fairy Maids, carrying a green piece of crayon, flew to our names and encircled them, then drew a green line upwards... It would soon meet the winner of the 'blue' round. And we would have to fight that winner.

And I don't think that anyone doubted that our enemy was going to be Mima's team. I'm not saying that Cirno's team is weak... Just not as powerful as the other teams of this tournament, and definitely not powerful enough to beat Mima.

I silently wondered, though, if Cirno was going to stand a chance against Mima... At least make the battle interesting. I'd definitely wait for that battle. It would start right after ours... Which had ended now.

The barrier that surrounded the battlefield collapsed, and the loud cheering and yelling of the audience finally became audible. The forest around us collapsed, the trees and bushes just seemed to deflate, and soon, the battlefield had returned to it's original state... Only holes remained from where craters had been.

It seemed that this 'Yúgure' didn't even need to be touching the terraformed area to turn it back.

"Reimu Hakurei, the last member of Yukari Yakumo's team, gives up! With that, Chôzen Gekido, Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Gekido-Shisô win!" declared Akyuu loudly, and the cheering continued.

"Good luck. You'll need it... I guess your next enemy will be Mima. Looking back, I believe this fight isn't going to be any easier than twenty years ago..." muttered the miko with a smile, waved, and then eventually stepped off the battlefield.

I, on the other hand, frowned, even though my eyes were still closed. Reimu was right. It certainly wasn't going to be easy to defeat Mima...

"Well... That went well." snorted Rumia to my side, and I shrugged.

"Indeed. Now then... Shall we?" asked Nanatsu, and both Rumia and I nodded.

We turned to leave, began to leave the battlefield just as a small group of Fairy Maids carrying two stretchers flew to the battlefield to pick up the unconscious Yukari and Suika.

"Now that was an interesting battle, and a battle that was worthy of being the one to start this tournament! Next up will be the battle of Mima's team against Cirno's team. It will start in about an hour, time we will need to fix the battlefield and prepare everything. And someone please send Yúgure down here, we're going to need her assistance!" exclaimed Aya, and I groaned silently.

That Yúgure sure was a very demanded girl... Not just because of her beauty.

"Alright... We shouldn't miss that. No matter who we are going against, it can only be an advantage for us if we know their fighting style. They know ours now." I huffed and rolled my shoulders, which ached like hell.

"As much as we revealed. Don't forget we still have the advantage of Kaibutsu and Rumia's other fighting style." commented Nanatsu quietly, and both Rumia and I nodded. We turned to leave again, but I began to wonder why my body felt heavier than before, my legs numb and weak...

Well, we were just about to step off the battlefield when it happened.

**"Hold onto something!"**

_"What? Why?!"_ I asked Insanity and frowned.

**"Hold onto something! Your system is shutting down due to the damage Yukari has caused in here, all of your vital organs have ceased to work already and...!"**

My replacement vision faded, everything became black. I opened my eyes, everything was blurry, even blurrier than before. My body, numb and heavy, suddenly fell forwards. I flailed my arms around in a desperate attempt to hold onto something, but never found anything to hold on...

And even before I eventually hit the ground, I had already blacked out...

* * *

I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by the sight of white flowers all around me.

I was here once again, was once more at the place that seemingly called me to it. I was once more on Nameless Hill.

Instead of remaining on the ground this time, I gently rose from the ground, careful not to damage any of the suzuran. Once standing, I glanced around, just to see if I would spot that doll again, Medicine Melancholy. This was where she usually roamed, wasn't it?

"You're back here?"

I gently rose an eyebrow, then turned around and faced her, the doll that I had just wondered about. Medicine Melancholy looked exactly like I remembered her, wearing the same dress and was accompanied by the same small doll as last time.

"Obviously." I retorted and closed my eyes, "As are you."

"I'm always here. I have nowhere else to go. I don't want to go elsewhere." replied the Doll Youkai and approached me, then sat down on the ground. I followed this example, sat down as well but kept my eyes on her all the time.

"That doesn't surprise me... But why wouldn't you want to?" I asked her.

"Why should I? I am welcomed by no one. I command death in shape of poison, both liquid and as gas. Wherever I go, death follows me. And I do not want it any other way. I despise people. You're the first one that I don't mind being around. You're different."

"Because I don't die from your poison?" I inquired, only to receive a shake of the doll's head.

"No. No, it's not that. You're just... Different. A bit like me." sighed the Doll Youkai.

"That so...? Maybe that's what keeps directing me here?" I muttered, staring ahead into the descending sun. It reminded me of something, something I'd rather forget. Of someone.

"Perhaps. Or maybe it's..." Medicine trailed off all of sudden, causing me frown at her.

"Maybe it's what?" I inquired, but the Doll Youkai merely shook it's head.

"No... No, it's nothing." dismissed the poisonous doll and lowered her head a little, "Just... Just think nothing of it and enjoy this moment that we have. I'd never think that I'd do it but... I am actually enjoying this moment. And will, as long as it lasts..."

"Strangely, so am I..." I whispered.

"Strangely, so am I..."

* * *

My eyes shot open and I took a deep breath. My whole body ached all over and my sight was still blurry, but I had regained consciousness. I realized I wouldn't see anything due to my still blurry vision, so I quickly closed my eyes again and used my replacement vision again, felt the surroundings.

I was lying on a soft bed in a room with several more beds, Yukari and Suika each lying on one of them. Without a doubt, this was the medical wing, which meant that some Fairy Maids must have come to pick me up after I had blacked out.

Noticing that my body refused to follow any command I was giving it, I merely sighed inside my head and gave up, well knowing that it wouldn't make any sense to fight it.

**"You're back, I see."**

_"Insanity..."_

**"I didn't say it earlier, but good job. Yukari isn't going to overestimate herself for a while, I guess."**

_"Guess so. Reimu was right, Yukari's overconfidence was what led to their loss."_

**"Yeah. Still, you gave her a good beating. One that she deserved, by the way."**

_**"That for sure, gentlemen."**_

_"Ah. You're here as well..."_

_**"I am. Came to congratulate you as well for your first victory."**_

_"Thanks. We did our best. Where are Nanatsu and Rumia?"_

_**"On their way here. They ran into Yuuka on their way, though, and she stopped them to congratulate them. They should be here shortly, though."**_

**"I don't think you're going to experience that, though. Like I had said earlier, your entire system is shutting down... It's a small miracle that you're conscious right now. Your body is malfunctioning right now... It's dying, so that it can recover completely. You know how it works..."**

I let out a sigh inside, well knowing what Insanity referred to. It had happened often enough twenty years ago... I was going to die temporarily, and once I'd be dead, my body would start to regenerate, and as soon as it would be fully regenerated, I'd come back to life. That was my kind of immortality... Not invulnerable, but unable to die permanently.

That was my kind of curse.

_"Oh well... Not that I can do anything against it. Have to accept it, I guess."_

**"Yeah, you'll just have to... Don't fight it. Let death claim you for now... You should be alright in half an hour at max. I'll do my best to speed up the process... Just let death claim you."**

_"Yeah... Thanks, Insanity. I'll leave everything to you."_

**"Yeah yeah, just die already..."**

* * *

(1) According to the Touhou Wiki, ZUN once stated in an E-Mail about Remilia that "Her height is 'short' and is of a height of a child not having reached the age of 10."

(2) I got the inspiration for this armor from (SPOILER!) the armor that Yoruichi Shihoin from Bleach wears later on.

(3) I think we all know that one famous line from Bomber Grape's Touhou Comic...

(4) "Tyrfing 'Blutnebel'!" would translate to "Tyrfing 'Fog of blood'!" in English. I think I stick with a German theme for Rumia's spellcards. It's a change, and it makes her different from many depictions of Ex-Rumia. So far, I only received positive feedback on that...

(5) I mentioned this in the IN-Arc of I-NB already, when I first used this spellcard. I am aware that the spellcard is merely named "Abandoned Line 'Aimless Journey to the Abandoned Station'!", and has no "Oblivion Train" added to it. However, due to a wrong translation that I once read, I came to believe that it was named Oblivion Train at the end. I learned of this mistake, but still continued to call it Oblivion Train... I think it fits and came to like the name.

However, it still is the same spellcard as the original "Abandoned Line 'Aimless Journey to the Abandoned Station'!" we know from the fighting games.

* * *

_Well, looks like it really began with an end._

_Despite Yukari's sneaky tricks, our protagonists managed to outsmart the Sukima in her own game and defeated her. In the end, it was Yukari's own overconfidence that defeated her. And Reimu still remains the unbeaten girl we all known, giving up willingly rather than being defeated. _

_Meanwhile, the Gekido Sisters begin their own little story... And, at the same time, introduce a few new characters. More will follow about them as time passes, for now, they are just introduced. They'll eventually get important each in their own way._

_And then, there is another scene with Medicine again. What's up with that? What's the connection to Chôzen being unconscious whenever it happens?_

_I'll be updating my other story Hazard of Hatred soon (Don't know if I start with the next chapter of II-NM or take care of the monthly HoH update now), so the next chapter may or may not be here next week. You should take a look at my profile every now and then, I'll keep you updated about my steps._

_Anyways, now, with the first fight over, it is Mima's turn next. Can she beat Cirno as easily as we all expect her to, or are there going to be problems?_

_Well, stay tuned for the next chapter, where we'll learn which team Chôzen, Nanatsu and Rumia are going to fight in the semi-finals! _

_Next time on II-Negative Mind: Sub-Zero ~ A fight with the cold!_

_Until then, so long!_


	7. Arc II - Ch III Sub-Zero

_Yo, Sorrow here! And with the next chapter in tow! Sorry that it took me so long with everything (this, as well as the HoH update that I missed last month and thus will compensate for this month with two chapters)._

_After our three protagonist defeated Yukari's team in the last chapter, it's Mima's time to fight! Her fight seems a lot easier, though, since her enemy is 'only' Cirno... Can things go wrong? And is that the only fight that's going to happen?_

_This time, it's Mima, Yuuka and Shinki vs. Cirno, Daiyousei and Letty!_

_Be prepared... This is a long chapter. And it's mostly focused on fighting (like most of the tournament will be ^^), though we will meet another few already known faces again. So yeah... Lot's of action, some new and some old relationships... Well, lots of that which you have to expect from me. And did I mention the action?_

_Expect lots of destruction, lots of pain, lots of bruises... And destruction. Lots of destruction! Muahahaha! Let's just say that I reaaaally pity the arena... _

_But before that, our usual review time!_

**Aerhyce...** I don't think that there has been a fair battle vs Yukari until now. But could you imagine such a thing? I do, but not in such a situation. Don't worry about YúgurexYume, it's not the last time you saw such a thing... I plan on writing many scenes that exploit Yume's shyness, and Yúgure is just the character to do so. And there will follow a few more of these scenes with Chôzen and Medicine...

Answering your question about all couples being parents... No. Not all. But quite a few. Enough said xD.

And there is something more to Toki's 'gendershifting', which you will soon learn more about.

_Aaaand that's it, sadly just one review!_

_On a side note... Do you remember the "Grimoire of SorrowfulReincarnation", that part at the end of each chapter of I-Negative Bullet's UFO Arc? I used to introduce the OCs in there, including how they came to be or similar stuff you may not have known yet about them. My question now is whether or not you'd want me to continue the "Grimoire of SorrowfulReincarnation" for the new OC's, which is pretty much the next generation of Gensokyo. If you'd like me to, please say so in your review. I won't start with the Grimoire right now again, but will wait for a later arc when it makes sense to do so (wouldn't make sense now, almost nothing is known about most of the new OCs, and saying more about them in their chapters of the Grimoire than it is currently known would destroy most of the plot)._

_That's everything this time. Now, let's move on the the chapter, shall we?~_

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Touhou/Project Shrine Maiden, as it belongs to ZUN. However, Chôzen Gekido (and his respective personalities), Nanatsu no Taizai, Yume Gekido and Yajû Gekido-Shisô, Sly, Shiho Kumo and Ryoko Jigoku do belong to me, as for I have created them. This goes for any other OC's introduced as well._

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Sub-Zero ~ A fight with the cold**_

**"Air raid!"**

"Gah!"

I shot up, almost choked on the air I breathed in, my gaze trailing through the room, then up to spot the air raid... Well, I only found a white ceiling above me.

No wonder, I was in the medical wing of the arena.

My throat felt dry and I coughed, my eyes felt dry as well and hurt. No wonder... I had been dead, after all. Stopped breathing, had stopped producing saliva, and hadn't blinked once. It was the ultimate torment to wake up to that.

Then again, at least my vision had returned.

I let out a snarl and rubbed the back of my neck, rolled my shoulders and my neck until loud cracking noises took all tension of my body and allowed it to finally relax.

**"Welcome back."**

_"Was that really necessary...?"_ I growled into my thoughts, Insanity's laughter making my mood worse than it already was.

**"I tried to be gentle, but you didn't react. Almost as if you were dead!"**

_"In a good mood, are we?"_

**"Sure am. Can you blame me? Yakumo got what she deserved."**

I let out a loud sigh and rose to a sitting position, continued to rub the back of my head. I moved to the edge of the bed and stretched my tired body, then let my legs dangle out of the comfy bed I had awoken in. Glancing around the room, I took a short moment to get a glimpse at Yukari and Suika, who lay in two other beds. Suika was sitting upright, her gourd in her hand, and was drinking her sake quite greedily. Yukari was still knocked out, though.

Dropping out of the bed, I stretched my legs as well, then my back. The pain was gone, I actually felt better than before. It might have to do with my resurrection, but also could've been because we beat Yukari and were in the second round of the tournament. Things would get interesting very soon.

_"How much time has passed? And didn't you say Nanatsu and Rumia would come here?"_ I asked my insane personality and looked around for anyone that would be in authority of the medical wing. I spotted that person by the only door in the room, sitting behind a desk and leaned over a thick stack of papers. Figures it was her.

_**"That was me, but well... Ahum. It's been one hour and fifteen minutes since you died... And Nanatsu and Rumia were here, but left when Mima's fight began."**_

I cringed as I got this information from my Flame-Soul and stared in shock at the green flame that orbited my head.

"Didn't you say it'd only take half an hour at max, Insanity?!" I bellowed out loud, shocked. Immediately, the person at the desk frowned and turned to glare at me.

"Hey, no shouting. The patients are trying to recover. Not everyone sleeps like a stone... Or a corpse, for that matter!" complained Eirin Yagokoro and slammed her fist down on the desk she sat on.

**"Sorry... It took about half an hour, yeah, but... You were sleeping so peacefully! I just couldn't wake you up..."**

_"Insanity...!"_

**"No, seriously, I couldn't wake you up. I tried, but you were stonedead. I tried everything!"**

_"Damn... Mima's fight started already."_

"You knew I was dead?" I asked the lunar pharmacist as I chose to ignore anything else from Insanity. She let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, began to knead the bridge of her nose.

"I'm a pharmacist and doctor, in case that you forgot during the last twenty years. I can tell when somebody is dead, you moron." growled Eirin, then opened her eyes to look at me.

"Geez, aren't you happy to see me after twenty years?" I snorted with sarcasm practically dripping from my voice and rolled my eyes.

"Twenty years are nothing to me, and you should know. You share the same curse as we do, after all. It has not been the Hourai Elixir that granted you this eternity, but it has been the immortality of beings like you that I based it on." commented the immortal and crossed her legs, then finally smirked at me, "But welcome back nonetheless. It's been almost boring without you and your exploded spleen around."

"You're still keeping on about that?!" I shouted. Before I knew, Eirin grabbed the bow that was leaned against the desk aside her and pointed it at me. An arrow missed my forehead by an inch and embedded itself in the wall far behind me.

"I told you to keep quiet!" yelled Eirin.

"You're the one that's screaming!" I insisted, but not as loud as before, fearing that the next arrow may not miss.

Eirin let out a huff and placed the bow down aside her again, then turned to the stack of paper again.

"Why did you keep my body if you knew I was dead?" I asked eventually and moved closer to her, glanced over her shoulder to get a glimpse at the documents before her. Not that I'd understand them.

"Massage my shoulders, please. I got a tense back from all the work." commanded the pharmacist, and I knew better than to refuse her... She could become quite scary. Quickly placing my hands on her shoulders, I began to massage them, receiving only a groan in response from the pharmacist.

"Well, the princess told me to get rid of your corpse until I told her about your immortality." muttered the pharmacist, apparently deep in thought, "Well, we ultimately agreed on keeping it until it would begin to smell."

I sweatdropped at the casual way she said it, but decided not to comment on it, fearing another snarky remark from the pharmacist.

"Well, I knew you'd come back to life eventually. I observed your body and noticed that, while your vital organs had all shut down, your brain was still working, even though only slow and barely noticeable. It reminded me of a comatose condition... As time passed, I noticed how your wounds began to heal... including that traumatic brain injury you got from Yakumo." murmured Eirin, then let out a groan and leaned back, her head resting against my lower chest.

"You're good at that. I believe it's not the first time you massage a woman with a tense back?" asked the pharmacist, and I could only chuckle at that.

"Let's just say that Nanatsu's strength comes with a price." I chuckled, earning a giggle from Eirin.

"I figured that it wouldn't be Rumia. She's almost always in a more than healthy condition." commented the pharmacist, then closed her eyes, "Please stop now, it's fine. I believe you didn't return to life just to help a woman with her tensed back, right?"

"Actually, no. The next battle has already started, hasn't it?" I asked, and Eirin nodded.

"Yeah. And I'll allow you to go. Knowing the effects of your kind of immortality, you should be in a nearly perfect condition right now. Go and see that evil spirit's battle." smiled Eirin, even though not once looking up from her documents.

"Thanks. What about Yukari and Suika?" I inquired.

"They'll be fine. Suika is already back to full strength, she's just lazying around over there... Got a small amount of bruises from your first wife, but her being an Oni protected her from most damage. Yukari, on the other hand, is covered in bruises... Aside that, she's only exhausted. Once she regained enough strength, she's good to go as well." explained Eirin.

"Good to know." I smiled.

"Guess so. Anyways... I believe I heard your wife mention a daughter when she was here earlier. You finally reproduced?" asked Eirin as she glanced over her shoulder at me.

"Which wife?" I smiled back almost too innocently, earning a frown of disbelief from the silver haired woman.

"I see. So you reproduced with both. You have my respect."

"Was that sarcasm, Eirin?" I snorted, receiving a snort back from the pharmacist.

"Do I look like someone that would make a joke?" shot Eirin back, and I chuckled uneasily.

"And here they say laughter is the best medicine. You look like the last time you laughed was an eternity ago." I commented. And Eirin smirked in a way too nasty way as she leaned back in her chair.

"Actually, the last time I had a good laugh was when I found remains of your spleen in your..."

"Shut the hell up about that!" I growled as loud as I could. Eirin snorted and began to laugh to herself, then turned back to the paperwork in front of her.

"You're not the only one to have children, you know? In the time after your departure, we had quite a raise in Gensokyo's population." commented the pharmacist, picking up a pen and scanning through the sheer amount of letters on the document on top of the stack.

"I heard so. Is there a reason in particular for that? You're a doctor, if you don't know, then nobody does." I spoke as I picked up one of the documents and scanned through it, even though without really paying attention to anything written on it. I merely needed something to distract myself from looking at her. She wasn't looking at me either, so it wouldn't matter.

"Of course I know the reason for that. It was the instinct of survival that each being holds." murmured Eirin, gnawing on the back of her pen.

"Instinct of survival?" I repeated and dared to glance at her, "Care to explain that?"

Eirin sighed at that and put her pen down on the table. She rubbed her eyes with her right index finger and thumb, then moved them down to rub the bridge of her nose. Eventually, she turned her chair to face me, her tired eyes resting on me. She had pulled an all-nighter again on some research, hadn't she? Did that woman even get any sleep at all? She was almost as much of a workaholic as Shikieiki!

"Like I said, it was the instinct of survival that caused this sudden raise in population. The instinct that any being has upon fearing that it might be erased from existence, the fear of death itself so to say. It was your fight against the evil spirit Mima that made many aware of their own mortality. It was the realization that Gensokyo was doomed, that the end was near. And becoming aware of their own mortality, they also became aware of their own feelings and those things they have never said or done." explained Eirin.

Seeing that this only increased my frown, she let out a sigh and slumped a bit.

"The end of Gensokyo was near. Fear had spread throughout it, Mima was going to erase us all. In a moment of nearing death, a being lives through its own life and becomes at peace with itself. Also, a being tends to realize that what it really wants, and that which it has never done but always wanted in secret. Let's call it 'things I have to do before I die'-list. And often, true feelings of attraction or genuine love tend to end up high on that list." added the pharmacist, then frowned at me, "Got it now?"

"I think so. And we got quite a few people on that list, I assume?" I inquired, and Eirin nodded.

"Satori Komeiji, now Scarlet... Aya Shameimaru... The list drags on." revealed the pharmacist, and when the second name caused me to frown, which she spotted, she merely turned back to her documents, "You're going to have to ask them yourself, I'm not going to say anything about that."

"I figured as much. Still... Aya? Didn't think she'd have a daughter. When did that happen? And with whom?" I muttered, partly to myself, but Eirin merely shook her head and began to write again.

"I don't think you know the lucky gal she's with. And even if... Not my place to tell."

"Yeah yeah, I have to ask them myself. Thanks alot, Eirin." I growled.

"Hmh... Sure. Now, please let me work, alright? I've got a lot of stuff to do, and it's not helping that I've learned from last years tournament just exactly how many different kinds of injuries the fighters can take. They had burns from Mokou, frostbite from Cirno, some had burns from the electricity of Iku, others had all kind of bruises, broken bones, dislocations..." ranted the pharmacist, and I chuckled.

"Very well. Then I'd better leave you alone for now. Was good to see you again, Eirin. I'll make sure to drop by at Eientei once this is all over, and then we can have a proper reunion." I smirked as I passed her and opened the door.

"Oh please not..." I heard Eirin sigh, even though it sounded overly dramatic and probably was intended for me to hear.

"Love you too, Eirin!" I called over my shoulder, only for the pharmacist to wave it off.

"Yeah yeah, just make sure your spleen doesn't explode again, loverboy." snorted Eirin, and I cringed. Oh, she'd not let that ever live down...

Leaving the medical wing of the arena behind, I stretched my limbs again and groaned. Looking left and right, I found myself back in the corridor I had first seen of the arena, the one Yukari had taken us to. To my right, the eight corridors leading to the living quarters of the teams displayed their colorful symbols, which I finally understood by now.

I silently wondered if any of the teams were currently in their respective living quarters, but decided against checking up on them. My main priority was to get back to the battlefield, since I wanted to see Mima's battle. Best up-close, of course.

With the right way only leading to the living quarters, the only way that could lead to the battlefield was the one leading down the way that had part of the corridor made of glass.

Since I knew that the battle had already started a while ago, my steps were quick and I hurried down the corridor as quick as I could without falling into a sprint. In less than a few seconds, I had reached the part of the corridor that was made out of glass and began to smirk to myself.

_"Can't wait to see Mima's fight. Hope she didn't make short work of Cirno already."_

_**"Not yet. The battle started only a few minutes ago, it was postponed about ten minutes... It began about five minutes ago, if not even less."**_

_"Phew. Thought I missed the best part of it already."_

_**"Don't think so. Anyways, from where are we going to watch the battle?"**_

_"Hm... What kind of battlefield are we talking about? Another forest?"_

_**"No. Actually, it's a sh..."**_

The sudden noise of glass shattering caught me off guard and I froze up, remained where I was in shock. Something had changed. Something had changed drastically.

With wide eyes, I slowly let my gaze trail up the large wooden log that had just impaled the ground right before me. It had fallen from above, had smashed through the glass of the corridor and had almost buried me beneath it.

"Oh what the...?" I muttered in shock, realizing just how close this had been... There was no way that this was an accident. This had been intentional. Logs don't fall from the sky, and do not randomly smash walking enigmas.

Feeling a dark presence behind me, I hissed and closed my eyes. I didn't need to turn around to know who had just stepped up to me... But I still wanted to face her, still wanted to see her.

Slowly, I turned around.

"And here I was wondering when you'd make your move..." I growled as I turned, then narrowed my eyes at the woman that stood in front of me with crossed arms and a deep frown.

* * *

_Nanatsu's PoV_

"Yuuka is moving in for an attack again! How many of these attacks will Letty Whiterock be able to take? Until now, all that she managed to achieve is to throw Yuuka off balance once! This has been way one-sided until now!" shouted Aya Shameimaru and hammered a fist down on the table of the judges.

"Could you stop that? You've already spilled our drinks five times..." growled Rinnosuke lowly, but was ignored completely by the Tengu as she jumped out of her seat, resulting in one of her wings smacking right into his face and knocking him over, while Akyuu on the other side of her remained spared due to her small size.

"Oh, did you see that?! Daiyousei sure is fast! Shinki is trying her best to hit her, but Daiyousei is moving just too fast for her! But then again, Daiyousei has yet to cause any damage to Shinki as well...!" yelled the Tengu in her excitement and hammered both of her fists down on the table, knocking Rinnosuke's drink over yet again, the hot brew spilling onto his lap.

That ex-barkeeper, Sly, lowered the odd brown flask he had as this took place. For a short moment, I spotted the odd, green liquid in between his lips and the flask, and silently wondered just what exactly that stuff was. It didn't look healthy at all...

"They're holding back, aren't they?" asked Rumia and I averted my gaze from the judges.

"I guess so. Mima could defeat Cirno's team on her own... Just remember what she did to the three of us on her own." I commented, and turned to look down at the battlefield from our spot in the third story, from where we could observe the fights on top of the big, wooden sailing ship. Quite an old one... Looked a lot like they used to in the 15th century. It was shaking back and forth in the waves of the body of water Yúgure had terraformed the battlefield into, including the ship.

"Yeah. But then again, Mima had given into her insanity... You don't know like Chô and I do how your own insane side can multiply your powers." muttered Rumia silently, and I let out a sigh.

Sometimes, I wish I could understand her and Chôzen better than this. I mean... I understand them. We three understand each other like no one else, and we love each other. This sounds jealous, and maybe it is, but... I sometimes can't help but notice how Chôzen and Rumia understand each other even better. I know it often isn't even Chôzen she is talking to...

Insanity. Insanity, the insane side of the man I had fallen in love with. I can't say that I hate him, but I am suspicious of him. I cannot trust him completely, and I won't ever be able to. And furthermore... He was Yajû's real father. He and Chôzen do share the same body, but that weird "International Demon and Youkai Observance Squad" had found out after a few tests on him that the DNA of the body changes once Insanity is in control...

It becomes even less stable than before, and an entire, even if only small, section of it practically reverses. With that, he and Chôzen are nearly genetical twins, save for this very small section... It changes everything, though.

Everything that defines Insanity, all of his maliciousness and whatever else defines him, is saved into that small section. And that small section was now continuing in Yajû... Was it, in the end, the cause for Yajú's lack of power?

"A yen for your thoughts? Geez, what's bothering you?" asked Rumia, snapping me back into reality.

"Ah... Nothing. Just... thinking about something." I replied, still somewhat in thought.

"Hm? Come on, it's not the time to think about whatever it is that makes you so grumpy! We should be enjoying this display of Mima's, Yuuka's and Shinki's powers without being at the receiving end of it... Yet." chuckled Rumia and pointed back to the arena, where Letty was doing her best to use the environment against Yuuka. Not that it really helped, since the environment wasn't exactly cooperating with any team.

"I guess so... Too bad that Chôzen can't see it." I murmured. Rumia sent a short frown at me, but then nodded.

"Guess so. But I think it's health over enjoyment... And, you have to admit, considering that this is coming from me of all people, it will have to be true, hm?" snickered Rumia. I giggled to myself at this, then shook my head in amusement.

I chose to enjoy the battle after all... I had to admit, Cirno wasn't acting half as bad as we had expected. In fact, she did manage to stand her ground pretty well against Mima. But then again, Mima wasn't serious about this fight. She was playing around. And so were Yuuka and Shinki. Once they felt like it, they'd stop and would just kick the other team out of the tournament.

"Outta my way!" exclaimed a voice all of sudden behind us, but I ignored it. I heard a few people complain about being pushed around, but didn't pay it any mind until a hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away.

"Hey!" I snarled upon being pushed back, and quickly grabbed the person that had just pushed me aside by the shoulder to turn her around. Rumia frowned at the woman that had just rudely pushed me aside as I turned her around, and I began to frown as well... She seemed oddly familiar.

She had long, golden-blonde hair that reached down to just above her ankles and had deep yellow eyes. She was pretty tall, slender, pale and toned.

Her dress left almost nothing to the imagination, curled around her curves in the right places and exposed her toned stomach through a diamond-shaped opening in the dress. But that wasn't the only thing special about her dress... The upper part, from the neck down to the waist, was white and frilly and the sleeves were black, but from the waist down, the dress turned black and was open at the front, exposing her slender legs.

In fact, this left so little room for imagination that I found myself admiring her for a short moment... Even ogling her. But with that low-cut dress and the fact that this woman wasn't exactly flat, was this much of a surprise? Kind of distracting, even for me...

Well, that still wasn't all. She had a black necklace around her neck, the golden pendant, a star, hanging just above her cleavage. Her left leg was covered in a black see-through, one-legged pantyhose, and she had a golden anklet around her right leg; as well as several thin, golden bracelets around her wrists.

All in all, she was rather beautiful but also had a mysterious touch to her appearance... A magician, I'd say. She had that kind of aura that came with it.

"Do I know you...?" she asked with a frown, and I let out a huff. I felt how my face began to heat up after becoming aware that I had stared at her.

"My, aren't you rude? First you push me out of the way and then you're not even introducing yourself." I snarled and closed my eyes in annoyance.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, would you please let go of me now?" she requested, and I obeyed. Once free, she dusted herself off and turned to look down at the battlefield. I frowned at her back and stepped a little closer to Rumia to get a better view on the battle below.

Mima was just unleashing one hell of an amount of colorful star-shaped bullets that Cirno had to dodge clumsily. Seeing this, the mysterious woman began to pump her fist into the air and began to yell. Geez, wasn't she excited?

"Come on, Yuuka, show us a Master Spark! Go, Miss Mima, show that baka how it's done, ze!"

"MARISA?!" I shrieked in perfect unison with Rumia, both of us snapping our heads around to stare at the beautiful woman, which was now frowning at us.

"Uh... That's my name? ...Ze?" muttered the woman uneasily and began to scratch her chin.

Feeling how my jaw fell down and my left eyelid began to twitch, I continued to stare at the woman. And not only I was at loss for words.

"Mari... Kiri-Kirisame?! The fuck did your hat go?!" murmured Rumia, one finger pointing at the obvious lack of a witch's hat on Marisa's head.

"It's in Miss Mima's living quarters, in the back of the arena. I don't wear it all the time anymore... Wait, who the hell are you two, da ze?" shot the once ordinary black magician back.

"...You got a poor memory, Kirisame..." taunted Rumia and rose an eyebrow at the blonde magician, while I rolled my eyes.

"Nanatsu no Taizai and Rumia Gekido-Shisô." I replied, only to watch as Marisa's eyes grew as big as saucers.

"So they weren't just trying to fool me when they said you're back in Gensokyo with that idiot Chôzen! Damn, that's what I get for missing the introductions and the first fight, ze..." growled Marisa to herself and began to gnaw on her thumb.

"Geez, Marisa, what happened to you? You look... Different." commented Rumia. Marisa glanced up and chuckled uneasily.

"Alice happened. And I kinda liked the new look she suggested, so I stayed with it. Looks good on me, doesn't it? Alice sure knows how to sew clothes, da ze~!" sung the one ordinary magician, "Also, I grew up. I'm adult now. Oh, and I became a Youkai. Up yours, death of age!"

"Youkai? So you really went as far as that..." murmured Rumia with a frown, "Just to be with Margatroid?"

"Nah. Miss Mima trained me to become a Youkai-Magician from the very beginning, and I wanted to be one since forever. Do you even know how much magic power I have in this form? What little I had in my human days is nothing against this. That aside, I don't have to rely onto any object to channel my magic power through anymore. I still do so, though, saves energy." smirked the ordinary black magician... In the end, she'd never be anything else. She still was pretty ordinary, even if special in her own way.

"Following Mima's footsteps then, becoming more than just human... So you're basically just like Alice? Alice was originally a human, I believe?" I asked, and Marisa nodded.

"Yeah, she was." replied the magician and smirked. Rumia chose this moment to glance left and right, only to frown.

"And where is Alice now? Shouldn't she be here with you to cheer for her mother Shinki?" inquired the fallen angel after a few seconds. This, in return, caused Marisa to frown and she turned to the direction she had come from.

"Weird... Alice was with me until just now, ze. She was here a second ago..." murmured Marisa and began to look around as well. Alice was nowhere in sight. It was just the three of us.

"Oh dammit, I lost her..." muttered Marisa after a few seconds and sweatdropped. We did as well.

"First, I lose my rights to participate, and now Alice..." groaned Marisa and rubbed the back of her head uneasily.

"You lost your rights to participate?" asked Rumia and rose an eyebrow at Marisa. The magician chuckled in response and glanced down to the battlefield, where Mima and Yuuka had pushed Letty and Cirno back-to-back.

"Don't ask. I originally wanted to participate, but had a serious quarrel with Yukari... We argued, we fought... And it ended with Yukari throwing me out of the tournament and taking Yuugi, Parsee and Shiho in my stead, ze...Otherwise, it would've been me, Yuki and Mai. You know, the two witches that are Alice's sisters. Alice didn't want to, so I asked them instead." chuckled Marisa uneasily.

"Yuki and Mai?" I muttered, thinking back to the two always bickering witches from Makai. How did Marisa end up with them?

"Yo. They're cool, ze." smiled Marisa and winked. I sweatdropped. She really hadn't changed.

"So Yukari threw you out of the tournament, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah. That annoying gap hag didn't change at all. She's still the same." huffed the witch and crossed her arms.

"What is that?! Cirno just used some of the water to create a gigantic ice sword for herself!" shouted Aya that moment. Immediately, the three of us turned back to the arena to watch the fight.

"It certainly is quite huge. I believe this could change a few things." I heard Akyuu add to Aya's shout, even though in a much more calm manner.

"Miss Mima is still going to kick Cirno's ass. She's with Yuuka and Shinki, after all." commented Marisa. And I couldn't disagree at all.

Still... I worry about Chôzen. I hope he's going to show up soon. He would want to watch this...

And where are Yajû and Yume? Had they made it into the arena? I hadn't seen them since before the first battle...

* * *

_Chôzen's POV_

"Really, I expected you to wait a little longer..." I muttered and rose an eyebrow.

"You'd think I'd let this chance go to waste? You know me better than that." came the reply, and I nodded.

"I do. Should've known you'd take the first chance you'd see... The first time I'm alone." I growled, "You didn't change at all, Orochi."

"Same thing about you. You still run into my traps, Chôzen Gekido, Insei no Youkai." shot Kanako back, only to begin to pace into my direction. I chuckled, placed my right hand behind my back against the onbashira that had almost smashed me before, and watched Kanako pace.

"So this is your first ambush, huh? I don't have time to play, Orochi... I need to see Mima's fight." I huffed, then coated my right hand in emerald flames in hope that she wouldn't see it. But since my hand was behind my back, I'd doubt that she'd see it.

"You're not going to see that fight, I fear. You're going to have your own fight. With me. Right here, right now." smirked Kanako and balled her fists, then went into a fighting stance. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Really? First time in twenty years that we see each other, I'm just out of the medical wing, and the first thing you want to do is a selfish fight? You know, a simple 'welcome back' would've done it, maybe a cake..." I taunted, causing my opponent to frown.

"Are you complimenting my cooking?" snorted the goddess, and I shrugged.

"The last time I ate something you made was twenty years ago... Can't say I'd mind to eat it again." I shot back, shortly glancing over my shoulder at the burning hand behind my back and the large faith pillar that it rested against.

"That so? Tell ya what, Gekido... If you defeat me now, you'll get your cake. Deal?" snickered Kanako. Of course, this meant that something was up. She was too confident with herself... She had planned something.

Geez, what's it with people planning my defeat?

"Deal." I exclaimed, pushing my burning hand harder against the onbashira behind me.

"Good. Then let's do this!" shouted Kanako.

"Spellcard rules initiated. Unlimited amount of spellcard, first one to fall unconscious loses!" we shouted at roughly the same time, initiating the rules that would protect us from death.

Kanako began to laugh sinisterly and rose both of her hands. Immediately, four of the pillars around the eight corridors that led to the living quarters broke apart, shattered into small pieces, and revealed what had formerly been hidden: Beneath a thin layer of stone were faith pillars, onbashira!

_"Damn, that's why she was smirking like that! Another ace up Kanako Yasaka's sleeve!"_ I thought as I watched how the faith pillars attached to Kanako's back. This would give Kanako an incredible power boost and more possibilities to attack. And what made it even worse was that she flicked her fingers once, turning two more of the pillars into onbashira. Those two remained by her sides, each hovering on one side of her body.

With six pillars in total, four on her back and two by her sides, Kanako was going to be even more dangerous than ever before... Each time I had fought her until now, she had used a total of four pillars at the same time. But those were six... And two of them weren't attached to her body. I could only speculate what those two would do... maybe additional weapons, maybe replacements for the other four. Either way, more dangerous than ever.

But... She wasn't the only one with a trick up her sleeve. And my trick was going to swipe her off her feet...

"Have at you!" laughed Kanako as she suddenly threw herself at me. That was what I had waited for.

I swung my still emerald-glowing hand back and knocked my fist into the faith pillar behind me, which I had damaged before with my burning hand. The pillar groaned and broke at the already damaged spot, then fell into my direction. I dove out of the way and watched how Kanako's eyes grew wide as soon as she spotted her own pillar coming down on her, breaking through glass and stone of the ceiling.

Kanako hissed loudly and moved her right hand, the faith pillar floating to her right immediately tilting up to stop the gigantic pillar falling down on her. With the pillar stopped, Kanako let out an even louder snarl, then moved her other hand to swing the other floating pillar to her left into the side of the onbashira she had stopped, knocking it out of her way. It crashed into the wall, created a large crack in it, but then fell to the ground.

I unleashed my powers in shape of my emerald hands, narrowed my eyes at Kanako, just as she lowered her hands, and with that the floating pillars, and then turned to me to narrow her eyes at me as well.

_"Well, at least I know what she uses those two pillars for now..."_ shot through my head.

And with that, our rumble begun.

_~ Chôzen vs. Kanako, the old rivalry flares up again! Music cue: Jeff Williams/RWBY - From Shadows ~_

Kanako swung her right hand forward and the floating onbashira followed. I jumped out of the way and caught myself in a roll, pushed one hand forward just as I came to a stop in a crouched position. A green orb burst forth and flew towards Kanako, but missed her and exploded on the wall behind her instead.

She swung her left hand in a horizontal motion, the faith pillar on her left side following her command by swinging in a horizontal way over my head. When she was about to swing it back, I rose my right hand at the height of my head and put my fingers against the onbashira. Running towards her in a crouched state, I used the negative energy surrounding my right hand to hold the pillar at bay, sliding my fingernails against the onbashira.

Kanako let out a loud growl as she saw me drawing closer, leaned forwards and pointed two of the pillars on her back at me. I snarled as I saw how dark blue energy began to glow at the front of the two onbashira, forcing me to push away from the onbashira I had sled my hand against.

I rolled out of the way just as the two onbashira on Kanako's back shot two thick, dark blue lasers. The lasers were fast and powerful, hit the wall far, far away from us, down the corridor, and exploded there. Kanako swung the faith pillar to her left, the one I had held at bay, into my direction just as I began to sprint towards her, so I jumped.

Landing on top of the faith pillar, I somersaulted, then continued to sprint. Kanako seemed to be anything but pleased about that and pointed the two upper onbashira on her back at me again. I jumped over the two lasers that she created and heard them impact with the glass ceiling behind me as Kanako rose the faith pillar I was running on higher.

Now on a much steeper onbashira, I couldn't remain there and was forced to jump off. I flipped over the head of the goddess and landed behind her, twirled around and slashed across her back with my left hand, which was still clad in emerald flames.

Kanako hissed out and I smirked as I examined the cuts in her red shirt. She twirled around and glared, one onbashira swung at the height of my head. I ducked underneath it, then glanced into the direction of the onbashira and found that it had impacted into the wall, damaging it greatly. I'd better not be hit by those pillars... They would have pretty much the same effect as Yukari's armor, and I enjoyed my regained vision.

"Still trusting in your speed, huh?" mocked Kanako as she pulled her hand back, then rested it against her side. As she did, the faith pillar returned to it's position to her left, hovering in midair like the other pillar did to her right.

"Still trusting in your strength, huh?" I mocked right back, only to move several steps away from my first rival ever, Kanako Yasaka.

"Indeed I am. I've never enjoyed great speed." replied Kanako and took a few steps back as well. We both observed the damages around us shortly, the broken ceiling and the cracked walls.

"Oh, I know. That's why I'll win this as well." I shot back, right before I threw a green orb of flames at her. Kanako rose both of the faith pillars at her side to block the attack by crossing them in front of her body. I charged at her in hope to reach her before she would have the chance to counter, but she moved the onbashira so that they were both facing up, and then slammed them down.

I gasped and sidestepped, causing the two heavy logs to smash into the ground with enough force to create two large holes in it. I began to round Kanako, hoped to hit her back again as long as it was unguarded, but the goddess just let out a furious roar and began to turn around - The two heavy onbashira creating a large trace in the ground as they ripped through it.

With a backflip, I managed to flip over the two onbashira as they passed me. Kanako growled and stopped in her motion, then pulled both onbashira up into the air again. They flew into my direction and tried to smash me, but I ducked and decided against approaching Kanako, rather brought distance between us.

Kanako adapted to my change in tactic and leaned forward, the two upper onbashira on her back pointing at me and releasing a twin pair of lasers. One of them grazed my shoulder as I dodged, but it didn't hurt enough to be of any importance. Kanako wasn't exactly pleased by that and leaned further down, allowing the two lower onbashira to point over her back as well. They began to glow blue as well, but released one hell of a storm of bullets rather than lasers.

Changing my tactic again, I charged towards her and dodged the bullets with my speed, moved in for the next hit... I had forgotten about the two flying onbashira, though, and was quickly thrown backwards through the air, all air forced out of my lungs.

"Shit!" I hissed right before I impacted with the ground and had all air forced out of me yet again. My chest hurt like mad, all of my ribs on fire from just one single hit of the onbashira. I had never thought that a hit from them could hurt so much... I had been smashed before by them, but getting hit by the swing of one was an entirely new feeling of pain.

I still cowered on the ground and held my chest when a shadow stepped over me. Glaring over my right shoulder, I found Kanako standing behind me, a nasty smirk on her lips as she rose her right hand, the floating pillar of faith following her.

Rage flew through me as I saw that, anger at falling for such a simple trick. The bullets had been nothing but a distraction.

"Looks like there will be no cake for you." sniggered the goddess and rose the faith pillar higher. I narrowed my eyes, yet couldn't move because of the burning pain in my chest. The negative energy in my right hand flared up, but it wouldn't be of any use. I pushed more power in my left hand, just out of rage...

Imagine my surprise when my left arm suddenly gained weight and my body moved on it's own!

One moment, I was on all fours in front of Kanako with my hands ablaze... The next moment, I was behind her, my right hand still ablaze with green energy. And within my left hand rested something heavy, something I hadn't felt in twenty years. A steady exchange of power and guilt was moving through my palm, the heavy weight pulling my arm down and yet allowing it to move easily.

In my left hand rested Alastor, the blade of guilt. The true one, not just a copy with it's spirit. The chains of guilt were back, curled around my arm in all their black glory and glowed their sickly green, as did Alastor itself.

Alastor was back.

It was Kanako's sharp hiss that pulled me back into reality and made me aware of what I had just done. I had moved at incredible speed and had cut Kanako's side with Alastor.

The goddess of war, rain and storm twirled around and narrowed her eyes at me, then the blade in my hand. She had made acquaintance with it already... In fact, it had been our battle twenty years ago in which I had first gained control of the blade, had first wielded it. How fitting that it was also my first battle with her after twenty years in which it finally returned to me!

"Thank you, Alastor..." I whispered, and focused on the blade in my hands.

Kanako let out a roar and leaned forward, once more pointing all four onbashira on her back over her shoulders at me. But this time, I came prepared.

It was almost like a deja vue as I charged at the goddess again and she began to spawn lasers and bullets anew. I ducked underneath the first two lasers, then rose to my full height again and pushed all my power into my feet to increase my speed.

Guided by an invisible hand, I swung Alastor, changed it's position ever so often and enjoyed the metallic sounds of the dark blue bullets hitting the blade and being deflected into nothingness. Like a familiar melody, the metallic sounds dug their way into the deepest parts of my brain and filled me with glee and utter satisfaction.

Just like before, one of the two floating onbashira came from the side and tried to throw me through the air, but was stopped when Alastor's blade pushed against it, carved deep into the wood as I sled it along it and continued my charge towards Kanako.

Seeing that, the goddess let out an even deeper growl and pulled the floating onbashira back, only to swing both fists towards each other. Seeing that the onbashira had followed each move of the respective hand of the goddess, I knew what was to come and ducked, just as the two onbashira crashed into one another above my head. And just as Kanako drew them apart, I was right in front of her at my full height.

Alastor cut through the goddesses right shoulder as I jumped over her head. She twirled around and tried to swat me out of the air with one onbashira, but merely hit the wall and created even more damage than we had done already. I landed in a crouched position and turned, swung the blade at Kanako's legs.

She cursed aloud as my blade cut through her knees, and even though it didn't leave back any damage since this was a spellcard battle, Kanako began to stumble back and forth because of the pain. I pushed myself off the ground from my crouched position and threw the chains of guilt into Kanako's stomach, right before Alastor cut through her middle as I passed her.

In midair, I twirled around and grabbed the chains of guilt, then pulled on them. Since Kanako had a far greater weight than me due to the onbashira, I was pulled towards her, aimed, and cut through her again with Alastor as I passed her and landed on the ground in front of her.

Kanako twirled around despite all the pain she felt and hit me in the side with her fist. The onbashira to that hand missed me, but I still stumbled a few steps away from the blue-haired goddess. Before Kanako got the chance to strike again, I moved.

I tackled into her with my right shoulder first. She fell back, the weight of her four faith pillars on her back pulling her backwards as well. Alastor swung up and cut through Kanako once as she stumbled, I turned right until I stood with my back to Kanako and stabbed into her side under my right arm, then turned again and cut diagonally through her torso.

Kanako was still stumbling when I stopped for a second and focused, then tackled into her again; this time with enough strength for her to be thrown off her feet. She crashed backwards through the glass wall and landed outside the corridor on the green meadow just outside it. I followed through the hole in the glass and smirked to myself as I landed in front of her, just as she had gotten up.

In her furious state, she swung both of her fists forwards, sending the two floating onbashira at her sides at me. This time, I jumped on top of them, only to push off them again. I landed on Kanako's shoulders, pushed off them to throw her off balance, and then threw Alastor by it's chains at her before I hit the ground.

Kanako, however, caught the spinning blade this time and pulled on it, pulling me out of the air and smashing me into the ground. I knew what was to come and quickly rolled away, just as another onbashira fell out of the air and impaled the ground where I had laid.

Stumbling to my feet, I fell into a sprint, well knowing that stopping for just a single second would be my secure death, as Kanako let more onbashira fall out of the air. God knows from where... I didn't really want to know where she had hidden or implemented onbashira in this arena. Possibly almost everywhere.

Changing my direction, I charged back at Kanako. She crossed her arms in front of her body and the two floating onbashira followed that example, creating a huge cross in front of her body. It didn't stop me, however, as I jumped off the ground and landed on one of them, then pushed off them and flipped in midair, gaining speed and power for my fall.

My heel hit Kanako in the back of her head as I fell on top of her, and slammed her face-first into the dirt. Immediately, the onbashira stopped falling out of the sky, and yet I knew that stopping would be a fatal mistake. Against Kanako, stopping led to pain.

I didn't see how Kanako, still on the ground, swung one of her arms, and thus missed it as one of the two still floating onbashira slammed into me from the side. Suddenly thrown through the air, the next thing I felt was pain and the impact with a stone wall, followed by me hitting a colorful floor... I had landed back in the corridor, on one of the eight symbols.

Pushing myself to my feet, I glared through the hole and hoped to spot Kanako, but couldn't. My senses kicked in, though, and I somersaulted away from my spot just as Kanako broke through the ceiling and tried to squash me underneath herself and the six onbashira of hers.

"Kanako..." I growled and narrowed my eyes at her, but the goddess didn't respond and instead leaned forward to point all of the four onbashira on her back over her shoulders at me. In addition, she extended both arms into my direction and pointed her palms at me.

Before I could ask, the top of each pillar began to glow dark blue. My senses kicked in again and I jumped backwards, just as the six onbashira each fired a short burst one after another which exploded upon impact with the ground.

I changed direction and charged back at her, but she didn't stop throwing these bursts at me. The small explosions created small shockwaves, not powerful enough to hurt me but still enough to make me stumble a bit each time one of them occurred.

I didn't move in until I was right in front of her, but jumped before that. Kanako narrowed her eyes at me as I came closer, then did something that I hadn't anticipated: She took a step back, and then took three steps forward at once and tackled into me.

"Ah!" I yelled as I was tackled out of the air and thrown off balance. I hit the ground in a few meters difference to Kanako and snarled as I landed on my shoulder, almost dislocating it.

_"Shit, forgot Kanako's raw strength!"_ I cursed inside my head and writhed in pain, holding my right shoulder. Opening my eyes a bit to glare over at Kanako, I found her standing above me, much to my shock. And pain, as she suddenly kicked me into the stomach and sent me flying further down the corridor.

I screamed out in pain as I landed on the ground again and felt even more pain. And of course, it didn't stop there. The moment I managed to open my eyes, Kanako was once more above me, this time with her foot pulled up and ready to slam down on me. Setting my left hand ablaze, I was about to throw an orb of green energy at her. Not to hurt her, not necessarily, throwing her off balance would be enough.

Kanako, however, suddenly lost her balance and almost fell over... It looked pretty weird, almost as if someone had pulled on her lifted leg. But that was impossible, I was alone with Kanako and who'd be able to pull on a leg from a distance without touching it?

With Kanako stumbling backwards, I rose to my feet again and brought a little distance between me and her, throwing weak bullets of green color at her. She brushed most of them off, most too weak to be considered painful for her. They were just to occupy her, though, while I brought distance between us.

Kanako leaned forward and pointed the four onbashira at me again, channeling new energy into them to fire these bursts at me again. With two backflips, I avoided the first few bursts of energy, then stopped and changed direction, once more moving towards Kanako.

She aimed at me and shot more of these bursts, but luckily at a pretty slow rate, giving me the chance to prepare for each of them. I jumped to the right as one of them impacted to my feet, then jumped back to the left when another one almost hit me.

I threw Alastor at the goddess, but she blocked the flying blade with the side of one of the left floating onbashira. This action caused the blade to cut into the log, where it remained stuck. Kanako saw this and swung the onbashira back, probably to yank me into her direction, but since the chains of guilt adjusted to whatever length I needed them to be, it wouldn't pull me towards Kanako... If not for me intending exactly that.

Yanked off my feet and into Kanako's direction, I channeled negative energy into my bony hand and aimed at Kanako's face, my intention to punch her into the next century. I had forgotten about the other onbashira, however, and could only gasp as she leaned forwards and aimed the two upper onbashira at me.

One of these bursts hit my chest and I was thrown backwards through the air, only to be yanked back towards Kanako when she pulled on the chains of Alastor. Once more, I found one of the onbashira aimed at me, but this time, the burst missed when I twisted my body out of the way.

My feet clumsily found a place to rest against; namely Kanako's face, and I pushed myself off her. She growled and took a few steps back, bringing one hand up to hold her face. Because one of the floating onbashira was still connected to that hand, it was brought up in a diagonal arch. I didn't stand a chance to avoid and was hit in the side, thrown away from Kanako and into the wall to her side, just below the ceiling.

Pain shot through my body when I crashed into the wall and caused a good dent in it, but I managed to absorb the fall at least by landing in a crouched position. Kanako had just regained balance as well, glared into my direction. Since she was still holding the left onbashira away from me since Alastor was still stuck in it, she instead swung her right hand into my direction. The respective onbashira flew towards me, and I avoided by falling out of the way.

Instead, the onbashira dug into the cold stone of the wall and broke into it. Small stones flew through the air and I had to shield my face from them, but then focused back on Kanako. She yanked on the chains once more, but since I was prepared this time, the chains just extended in length and instead threw Kanako off balance, who had pulled way too hard for no counteracting force to be there.

I used this to jump over the floating onbashira still in the wall, then rolled underneath the other one and turned around, my hands immediately curling around the hilt of the stuck Alastor. I pulled on it, the blade glowed green and began to hiss, and immediately was free.

The length of the chains of guilt reduced to their normal length and I let out a deep sigh as I jumped over Kanako, way more comfortable with a long corridor behind me rather than eight smaller corridors with walls between them.

Kanako's glare was upon me again and she pointed all six of the onbashira at me again to release more of these short bursts of energy. I was forced to dodge them again, curled my left hand around the hilt of Alastor again and glanced down at it.

_"Damn it. I thought that I would be able to wield Alastor just like the day that I lost him once he returned... But it doesn't feel like back then. I focused too much on using my hands, rather than a blade. Guess I have to find back to him first..."_ I pondered as I eyed the weapon. And yet, I didn't dismiss it. Not yet.

Lost in my thoughts, I had entirely forgotten about Kanako and her attacks, something that I regretted soon. One of the onbashira slammed into my stomach full force, pushed me several meters back and caused me to double over in pain, all air pushed out of my lungs as the onbashira finally retreated.

Glaring up at Kanako as I did my best to fill my lungs with air again, I found her smirking at me in one hell of a nasty way.

It was that moment that I noticed that none of my attacks, despite their strength and quantity, had hurt Kanako seriously enough to tire her out. She wasn't completely unscathed, but not hurt enough for everything to be considered normal. Something wasn't right.

"I see you noticed... Then let me tell you why." chuckled Kanako darkly as she saw my shock and narrowed her eyes at me, the smirk on her lips growing in size and malevolence. With air now in my lungs again, I began to snarl as loud as I could, but still had to regain the strength to move again... And the pain had to stop.

"You left me back again, Gekido. You defeated me and vanished again, just like back all those centuries ago... But this time, I knew you'd return. This time, I knew I'd get my revenge. Each and every day, I trained to surpass you. I steeled my body and remembered all of your dirty tricks... I knew I wouldn't be able to memorize them all and block them, but I learned to take the pain they might cause. I learned how to extend my stamina... And this time, it is you who'll lose!" laughed the mad goddess.

"Once again... driven by revenge, huh? Just like back... then!" I panted, each breath hurting like hell. The goddess didn't respond, but her smirk increased and that was everything I needed to know. Driven by revenge, just like back then. Just not as obsessed with it.

"Something changed, though, as you can see. I am much more resistant than back then, much stronger... And have more powerful attacks! Let's see how you like this one!" laughed Kanako and leaned forward again, the four onbashira moving to point over her shoulders at me.

I mentally prepared myself for the several bursts again, but Kanako surprised me with something completely else. The four onbashira on her back moved until they were touching each other, the two onbashira floating at her sides rose and placed themselves on Kanako's shoulders. They all were facing me, they all began to glow in a dark blue at their tips.

And then, the most gigantic blast I had ever seen was released by the goddess.

I didn't even have time to let my eyes grow wide, I couldn't even raise a proper barrier of negative energy in front of me. It was halfway up when Kanako's blast of pure power impacted with my shield, some of it's pure power poured through it and I felt how several locations on my torso were burned by the pure energy that this blast was made of.

My heels dug into the ground and I screamed, screamed in pure torment as I was pushed backwards through the entire corridor with my heels breaking through the stone, while my front was severely burned at the same time. No wounds would remain due to the spellcard rules, but the pain was still hard to take.

In fact, my vision was slowly becoming blurry and my legs were shaking, almost giving in due to the pain I was going through. And the moment that I was about to black out, the blast stopped.

I was still being pushed back, though, had gained too much velocity to stop just like that, despite my heels still digging into the stone ground. When I lost my balance though, just for a split second, my heels dug too deep into the ground and became stuck while my upper body was still moving at the high velocity.

Swept off my feet, I was flying through the corridor, then impacted with the ground and sled on it for a few meters, then bounced off it. The world around me was spinning as I flew through the corridor and I soon lost all sense of direction, didn't even know anymore where up and down was.

It wasn't until I impacted with the wall on the far side of the corridor that everything stopped. I was upside down when I sled down on the wall and hit the floor with my head first, then with my shoulders as the back of my head sled over the ground.

The corridor was still upside-down when I saw Kanako running down the corridor into my direction, the two onbashira floating at her sides again, moving back and forth as Kanako ran towards me with the nasty smirk still on her lips.

_"The hell...? This reminds me of that one attack of that doll... Kyômi, the doll that had interested the interests of almost everyone in Gensokyo. I remember that she could release this powerful blast from her mouth... It __wasn't as strong as this attack from Kanako just now, but it worked just like it..."_ shot through my head.

Despite all the pain and the exhaustion, I pushed myself off the wall and landed on the front of my body, then pushed myself up onto all fours. That was one of the good things that came with the spellcard rules: You didn't receive any physical wounds that would stop you from getting up again. No cuts and bruises, no blood and no severe damages. And with that, I still could get up, even after that powerful attack from Kanako, which had sent me through an entire corridor of a few hundred meter length.

What really scared me, though, was the thought of how powerful the attack really had been. I had blocked half of it's power with my negative energy, had reduced the velocity by a good bit after the blast had stopped, and still hit the wall with such force... If I wouldn't have dug my heels into the ground like that, I would've easily been thrown through the wall!

I stumbled to my feet and growled. It certainly was a good thing that the large double door leading to the large hall of the arena was not at the far wall of the corridor that I had been thrown into, but to my right now, at the side of the corridor. Otherwise, we might have stolen the entire attention of the audience. Imagine you're watching a fight which's outcome you already now, since we all suspected that Mima would win... And then, a goddess and a Youkai with almost equal strength come barging into the room and fight above your heads!

"What the bloody hell was that...?" I snarled as soon as Kanako was within earshot, and I did my best to stop myself from panting. My heartbeat was echoing in my ears and I felt a slight headache... The spellcard rules didn't prevent those, especially in between fighters with as much strength as me and Kanako.

"That? That was my most powerful technique. And it seems I got you good with it... Too bad you blocked most of it!" laughed Kanako, "Now that would've been one hell of a 'welcome back', huh?"

"Fireworks, and maybe a cake... You really seem to have missed me, Kanako." I snorted and rose to my full height, ignored pain and exhaustion.

"Maybe I have, Chôzen." replied Kanako in a much more soft manner, her nasty smirk changing into what I would almost dare to call a warm smile.

"Hey, don't go soft on me." I chuckled as I heard her use my first name for once, and Kanako joined. We chuckled together, and as we did, returned to our battle stances again, back to how we had begun. If it hadn't been for my slightly exhausted state and the damage on the back of Kanako's shirt, no one would've known that we had fought before.

If he ignored the destroyed state of the corridor, of course. Now THAT was destruction at it's best!

"Ready for round two?" I snickered and rose Alastor with my left hand, then ignited my bony hand in emerald flames. Kanako sniggered sinisterly and rose both of her hands, the two floating onbashira rising to the height of her waist again.

"Dad!"

_~ music fades out ~_

Caught off guard by Yajû's voice, both Kanako and I turned towards the large doors to the arena, which were open now, Yajû and Yume standing in it.

"Yajû? Yume?!" I gasped, my fight with Kanako forgotten for the moment. I just frowned at my two daughters and wondered how they had found me, or if they had found me by coincidence. Then again, they hadn't probably been looking for me to begin with.

"D-did that one... Call you...?!" stammered Kanako and returned my attention to her. Her mouth was wide open as she continued to stare at Yajû, to which the young Angel of Death stared right back with a frown.

"Dad, who is that?" muttered Yajû as she frowned at the goddess I had just fought against. Before I got the chance to explain anything to them, as I had never really talked about Kanako to them, something else happened that caught me off guard just as much as Yajû's and Yume's arrival had thrown Kanako off guard.

"MOTHER!" exclaimed a young girl that I had overlooked until now as she let go of Yume's hand and dashed past the young Angel of Death and me towards... Kanako.

Kanako didn't even react as the young girl threw herself at the goddess and put her arms around her waist, hugging her. The young girl hugging Kanako had poofy, medium-length hair and was a little smaller than Suwako. She wore a purple shirt with long white sleeves that went over into a red skirt reaching down to her knees. Wearing sandals and white kneesocks, she resembled Suwako quite a lot...

It hit me like a brick into the face.

I had seen this girl before. Twenty years ago, on the day that everyone had gone crazy for some weird interest, I had spotted a child resembling Suwako within the Moriya Shrine, but couldn't make any sense out of it. Now, however...

"YOU HAVE A CHILD?!" I bellowed in perfect unison with Kanako. We both took a step back and pointed accusingly at the other one, not believing what we had just learned about each other.

"Could someone explain what's going on?" asked Yajû as she eyed me and Kanako, only to glance down the pretty demolished corridor, "And what the bloody hell happened to the corridor?"

Kanako and I continued to stare at each other, and one could probably see how it was slowly working in our heads as we tried to process everything and come up with what to do next.

"Actually..." I began eventually and glanced over to Yume and Yajû, "I have two daughters. Both of them are my children. You can probably guess the rest." At this, the blue haired goddess nodded slowly, then glanced down to the girl that was hugging her waist.

"This is... Hikari." muttered Kanako eventually, gently placed a hand on the head of her daughter, and smiled in a warm, motherly way at her. It actually looked pretty cute, even though I noted to myself that it would be hard to get used to Kanako being a mother. I had never thought that she would be the motherly type, and so, it actually felt quite confusing and uncomfortable to see her act that way.

"Dad, where the hell did you get Mom's sword from? I thought it's chained to her..." inquired the bolder of my daughters as she approached me, her eyes resting on Alastor within my left hand, "Wait... That's not Mom's sword, is it? It looks almost exactly alike, but it's..."

"It's the brother of Rumia's Tyrfing, the twin to Tyrfing. It is the exact opposite, yet forged from the same material with the fangs of the same beast at the very top. Equal in strength, they only differ in their abilities and the emotion that they feed on... Bloodlust for the destructive Tyrfing, guilt for the silent Alastor." replied, to everyone's surprise, Kanako, her eyes resting up the sword as well.

"You know just as much as I do about Alastor... How come, Orochi?" I questioned as I turned towards the blue-haired goddess again. In return, she lifted her gaze until it was locked with mine, and then gently pushed Hikari behind her.

"I am a goddess, after all. But there is something else..." murmured Kanako, "Something I don't think I can tell you."

I furrowed a brow and rolled my shoulders, but didn't dare to question whatever Kanako had referred to. If it wasn't something I was supposed to know, then I shouldn't. Sure, it did bug me and I was curious... But, as I had learned through experience, curiosity killed the cat. Or the enigma, for that matter. I had run into enough trouble because of my curiosity.

"Alastor?" repeated Yajû eventually and turned to look down at the sword within my hand, which I still refused to dismiss. I just couldn't... I felt like I was going to lose it again, feared that I may... Screw it. What was I even worried about? Alastor had given me the message that he would return once he thought it was time... So if it really had been him, he was back with me again.

The chains began to dissolve into green particles from my chest out, green petal-like particles flew through my vision as the chains dissolved into nothingness, until the decomposition eventually reached Alastor's hilt and began to dissolve the blade as well.

"I don't want anyone to know about Alastor's return, alright? That means no word to Nanatsu or Rumia as well... Got that?" I eventually spoke, glancing towards my daughters towards the end. The two of them nodded slowly, and as I glanced to Kanako, she nodded as well.

**"What the hell is that about?"** asked Insanity almost immediately.

_"Don't ask. They'll know about Alastor's return once I think it's time."_ I replied, then closed my eyes.

"My question still hasn't been answered... What happened here?" repeated Yajû, her earlier question once more lingering in the air. At this, I opened my eyes and looked at Kanako. She still had the four faith pillars attached to her back and Hikari, her daughter, was looking around one of them. The two onbashira that she had commanded earlier with her hands now lay discarded at the side on the ground, no longer responding to the movements of Kanako's hands.

"That is a question that I can answer..." sighed Kanako and closed her eyes gently. Her indifferent expression changed as her lips curled up into a soft smile. She lowered her gaze a little, a shadow fell over her eyes and hid them. Very gently, she rose her right hand and tapped into midair. I watched this with great curiosity, wondered silently how this was going to explain everything.

She gently lowered her hand until it was at the height of her waist... And then, her soft smile turned into a nasty smirk as she bared her teeth and swung her right hand from the right to the left.

The wall to my left broke apart as an onbashira slammed through it. Caught off guard, I was unable to avoid and forced to endure the pain as the onbashira slammed into my body at great speed. With my back pressed against the onbashira, I could barely scream as the wall suddenly came closer. I did hear my daughters gasp and Kanako laugh... And then, the next thing was that I slammed full force into the wall.

* * *

_Nanatsu's PoV_

The audience was cheering and clapping, yelling for their respective favorite fighter. As it had turned out, Cirno's gigantic ice sword had changed a few things. Not only was Mima forced to block ever so often now, but Letty and Daiyousei had both regained new spirit and had faced their respective enemies, forcing Yuuka to retreat a few steps as her beloved flowers were suddenly covered in ice and snow,as well as Shinki to actually take cover as Daiyousei began to throw colorful bullets all around her in what appeared to be random patterns.

"I knew Cirno and Daiyousei would eventually prove themselves, ze. One shouldn't believe it, but Cirno actually has the strength of a weak Youkai... And certainly the endurance and hotheadedness of one. She IS the strongest fairy." chuckled Marisa as she leaned over the railing, "But still nothing against Miss Mima! She's kidding around down there, ze!"

"Undeniably." agreed Rumia with an amused snort, "I have to agree that Cirno certainly is extraordinarily strong for a simple Yurei... If I wouldn't know better, she has already surpassed the shackles of Yurei and has ascended to something neither Youkai nor Yurei. And her strength and will to continue is rubbing off on Daiyousei. As long as Cirno keeps pushing herself, keeps standing up no matter how weak she is, Daiyousei will follow her like a loyal, affectionate puppy."

"Are you perhaps talking about me?" snickered a voice sarcastically, catching the Angel of Death off guard. I turned to glance over my shoulder, and couldn't help but squeal in glee as I spotted the woman that the voice had belonged to.

"Momiji!" I exclaimed and quickly crossed the distance between us to pet the white wolf tengu like a small dog. Of course, she'd complain about it, but I knew she liked it. At least, she had done so when she had been drunk on the party to our honor after the fight with Mima twenty years earlier. And true to my suspicion, she let out a huff as I placed a hand on her head... Her tail gave her away, though, it was wagging left and right in excitement.

Momiji would always be my favorite tengu, I guess. None of them was as cute as her. Especially not Aya.

"Indeed me. I couldn't resist but welcome you back on my own. And of course, in the name of Lord Tenma. She's a few stories above us, but apologizes for not being able to leave her place right now. She'll eventually meet you in person, though." smiled the white wolf tengu.

I couldn't help but notice that she looked a little more intimidating than ever before, maybe a little... Manlier was the wrong word, I guess. Perhaps, to describe it in another way, it was the feeling of being safe around her; that she'd protect those dear to her from any harm. Just like the man that many girls dreamt of, the 'knight in shining armor'.

Well, Momiji was a guard with a big sword, so I guess that's as close as it comes to it.

"Ah, it's Momiji, da ze!" exclaimed Marisa as she spotted the white wolf tengu as well, "How's it going, 'miji? Haven't heard from ya in a while!"

"I cannot complain, Marisa. We have our occasional intruders to the mountain, but we send them back down the mountain as usual." replied Momiji, all while I continued to pet her gently. She really didn't mind in the end, I guess.

"How's your life with Alice going? I believe she can be quite... clingy." chuckled Momiji and eventually gently pushed my hand away to approach the railing as well. I was a little disappointed, her hair was really soft and her ears were just adorable, but then again, she wasn't a pet or something...

"Actually not. Years ago, I would've thought the same, but I was proved wrong." sniggered Marisa in return and watched as Momiji leaned onto the railing aside her. I returned to my own spot in between the white wolf tengu and Rumia, and returned my attention to the battle below, which we were all watching with great interest now. Mima had just regained control of the situation again, but was still not giving it her all.

"A ship is certainly an interesting place for a battle, right? As far as I know, the only ship in Gensokyo is that of Minamitsu Murasa, and it's not even requiring water to swim." commented Momiji. I let out a short laugh, silently agreeing with her. A ship like that certainly was a change.

"This Yúgure girl is quite skilled... She created a body of water and a ship from nothing but solid stone..." added Rumia.

"Well, what do you expect from someone who has spent the last nineteen years in Voile? She's been practically absorbing those books about terraforming magic whenever I paid Patche a visit, ze." laughed Marisa, and I glanced shortly over to her and Momiji.

"What is this girl's connection to Patchouli Knowledge, anyways? I figured she's a Succubus like Koakuma, and the robe pretty much gave away that she's from the Scarlet Devil Mansion..." I inquired, and earned an amused glance from Marisa.

"Yúgure works at Voile like Koakuma... Just as much of a bibliophile as her and Patchouli, ze. It's not that surprising, I guess, she's spending way too much time around them since..."

Marisa never managed to finish her sentence, was interrupted by the loud sounds of what sounded like stone breaking apart, followed by loud screams of surprise and fear. We all immediately glared into the direction, feared that something might've happened.

I had one hand on Shi no Taizai, Rumia had summoned Tyrfing, Momiji had her sword drawn and Marisa had pulled the Mini-Hakkero, which she had already claimed to still use despite no longer needing it, out of her pocket. All of us were ready to jump into action in case that we needed to. However, we all facefaulted as we saw the source of that noise.

It was a gigantic log; one of Kanako's onbashira, that had crashed through the wall at the very top of the arena, flying towards the battlefield and the barrier. And, at the very tip of that onbashira, was Chôzen, his back pressed against it as he screamed for his dear life.

In perfect silence and with deadpans, we watched as he and that onbashira flew into the barrier and crashed into it. It surprised me only a little as the faith pillar actually went through the barrier and pushed Chôzen through as well, probably because both the onbashira and the barrier were Kanako's. Eventually, the onbashira impaled the ship into the side and remained stuck there, the additional weight tilting the ship to the right.

It was that moment that Kanako appeared from the hole in the wall that the onbashira had made. She merely jumped out of it, fell towards the barrier and passed right through it, and then used one of her personal onbashira, the shorter ones that she attached to her back, to break through the ship's wall to follow Chôzen inside.

In perfect unison with Marisa, Rumia and even Momiji, I facepalmed so hard that it hurt.

"Chôzen..." we groaned.

"What is this?! Looks like we are going to see two fights for the price of one! Yasaka-sama seems to be fighting contestant Chôzen of the first round! I wonder what caused this? Now this is going to be interesting!" roared Aya as she jumped up from her seat anew, one wing slamming into Rinnosuke's face and knocking him and his chair over, as well as his drink when Aya slammed her fists down on the table.

"For now, we are not going to see anything with Yasaka-sama and Chôzen in the belly of the ship... Let's just hope their fight won't get in the way of the fights of Mima's and Cirno's teams." added Akyuu, even though she was looking past Aya with a very worried expression, probably at Rinnosuke.

"Are ya kiddin' me? I hope they get in each other's way! Now THAT is going to add spice to this!" roared Sly in laughter, slamming the odd flask in his right hand down on the table, causing a bit of that green liquid to spill onto it, "I knew Gekido was good for somethin'! Throw him inta the mix and ya get chaos! And I just love chaos! Who else loves chaos?!"

I just let out another groan with the other three women around me as the audience began to cheer.

* * *

_Back to Chôzen..._

"Shit!" I roared just as my body was flung into the wooden floor of the ship's belly. My entire body was aching, and I knew Kanako would appear any second now. I pushed myself up, cringed as my right arm almost gave in because of pain as I leaned my weight onto it, and glared over to the wall I had entered the ship's belly through.

The onbashira was protruding from the wall, had broken through the dark brown wood there.

_**"Well... To answer that question earlier as to from where we are going to see Mima's fight... We've got the best seats. We're watching the battle from REAL close-up."**_

Looking around the room, I found myself in what appeared to be some kind of storage, with chests and barrels standing around in apparently random locations, even though most had sled over to the wall because of the slightly tilted position that the ship was in now. Yúgure had done her very best to create such a detailed area... She certainly was skilled.

On the other hand, it certainly wasn't good at all that I was inside the ship now... Somewhere above my head, Mima's team was fighting against that of Cirno, and I certainly didn't plan to get in their way, as it could influence the outcome of this fight... Shikieiki was going to be pissed at me and Kanako for this, and so was Yukari. Then again, Yukari was already going to be pissed at us for the destruction we had caused...

An entire corridor was destroyed already, and who knew what else was going to follow...

My question was, more or less, answered when the wall broke open and Kanako entered the belly of the ship as well, throwing some barrels and chest across the room as the wall broke.

"Ready for round two?" asked the goddess without hesitation, and I merely let out a loud hiss. This was enough for her, she didn't need to know anything more. She lifted her hands a little and the two onbashira floating at her sides rose to the height of her knees.

She swung her left hand towards me and the faith pillar responded, flew into my direction. I dodged by falling to the side, rolled, and then glared over my shoulder at the onbashira that now stuck in the wall. Kanako lowered her hand and the faith pillar broke free, returned to her side, leaving back a large hole in the wall.

"Now, let's continue where we left off, right...?" called out the goddess and narrowed her eyes at me at the same time that a crazed smirk spread across her lips.

_~ Do we ever stop this rivalry of ours? I certainly hope not! Music change: __Saint Deamon - Run for your life_

I quickly ignited my hands with the emerald energy, no second too late to catch the next onbashira thrown at me. My fingers curled around the edge of the onbashira's end and I pushed my feet against the ground in hope to stop myself. I was unfortunate, though, the ground was slippery and wet, the wooden planks were old and unsound... Curse Yúgure and her need for details.

The onbashira pushed me backwards through the room and eventually against and through the wall. I cursed as the cold air outside the ship hit my face and the scent of salt water filled my nostrils. Hanging on the onbashira Kanako had thrown, I couldn't do anything but quickly climb on top of it, then jump away before Kanako pulled it back.

My hands managed to hold onto the open window just as Kanako's onbashira vanished back inside the ship. My fingers almost slipped, the windowsill was made of wood as well and just as wet and slippery as the wooden planks inside the ship. I pulled myself up and rolled through the open window back into the room, right next to a few barrels that were chained to the wall and the ground.

Kanako turned to face me and snorted in amusement, then leaned forward and pointed the upper onbashira on her back at me. I growled as I saw this, lit my hands up again and narrowed my eyes at Kanako, mentally preparing myself for more of these short bursts of energy, any kind of laser or bullets. I knew it wouldn't be that enormous blast, for that, she had to combine all onbashira and charge them up.

Acting on instinct, I slammed my burning, bony hand into the chains that restricted the barrels aside me. Now free, the barrels immediately followed gravity into the direction that he ship was tilted into and rolled towards Kanako, catching her off guard as they slammed into her and knocked her over. The barrels shattered upon hitting Kanako, but also threw her off balance and knocked her into the wall of the ship, right next to the large onbashira that had first pushed me into the ship.

Before Kanako got the chance to move, I moved to the next bundle of barrels and hit the chains as well, breaking them. A few of the barrels rolled towards Kanako, she moved her left hand and slammed one of the onbashira she commanded through the barrels, breaking them. But my assault didn't stop there.

I picked up one of the barrels that had remained and threw it at Kanako, forcing her to swing the onbashira again to break the barrel. I picked up another one and threw it, then kicked another barrel to follow the one I had thrown. Kanako swung her left onbashira to break the first barrel, then spotted the second one and swung her right onbashira to break that one as well.

She didn't expect me to follow right after.

My foot slammed into her face as I jumped at her, knocked her head against the wall again. I landed in front of her in a crouched position, lit my hands up again and punched her straight into the stomach. Kanako absorbed the force of the punch and actually managed to stop herself from doubling over.

With a single kick, she managed to throw me across the room. Instead of impacting with the wall, I was thrown out of the window that I had climbed in through earlier, but luckily managed to hold onto the side of the window and pulled myself in instead of being thrown out of it entirely.

I landed on the floor and caught myself in a somersault, lit my hands up once more and aimed at Kanako. She let out a snarl, kicked the only barrel that had not broken on impact with the wall to her left, and it grazed my right shoulder. While it didn't hurt, it still broke my concentration for a second and I had to aim anew, time that Kanako used to turn things around.

She swung her right hand back and slammed her fist into the large onbashira that had pushed me into the ship earlier. Through her strength alone, she managed to cause quite a lot of damage to her own onbashira, but also freed it from it's position and knocked it out of the ship's side just as Kanako held onto the hook on the wall to her left.

The entire ship swayed violently all of sudden, tilted back into it's original position due to the weight in it's right side now being gone. I could only gasp as the ship swayed into the other direction. I was thrown off balance and landed painfully on my ass, right before the ship swayed back into the other direction, even though much softer now that the momentum was decreasing with each time that it swayed into the other direction.

Kanako used my inability to guard myself to throw herself at me, both of the floating onbashira floating beside her as she fell towards me from a jump. Rolling to the left, I managed to avoid it as one of the two onbashira charged at me. Instead, it broke through the wooden planks and impaled the unsound floor that way, followed by the second onbashira doing the same.

Kanako landed in between them and pulled the two onbashira out of the ground with a movement of her hands, which gave me time to rise to my feet again. The moment that Kanako turned to me again, I had already summoned Alastor to me. Like I had suspected earlier, he was indeed back, listening to my command as I called onto him, just like back then.

The legendary blade took the entire impact of the attack, and even though I was pushed back a few feet, I was certainly happy that the onbashira hadn't connected with my face instead. That would've hurt... Especially considering that I would have to explain to Eirin how I managed to get a second traumatic brain injury in just a few hours.

I pushed negative energy into the blade and pushed the onbashira away from me, actually throwing Kanako off balance and forcing her to take a few steps backward in order to regain her balance. I didn't abandon a chance like that and jumped towards her, flipped over her head and twisted my body to land on my feet again, facing Kanako's back.

She let out a snarl, one of displeasure and anger, while I aimed and swung Alastor again.

A few seconds later, one of the onbashira attached to her back fell to the ground, cut into two pieces at roughly the half. The goddess wasn't exactly happy about that and twirled around, one onbashira swinging at the height of my head, forcing me to guard with Alastor rather than cutting off another onbashira. I would have to do that if I wanted to decrease her strength.

Pushed across the room by the brute force of the attack I had blocked, I had to watch as Kanako swung her left hand back with the respective onbashira following her command. Much to my chagrin, the faith pillar that she had formerly used as a weapon with her left hand moved behind her back and took the place of the one I had cut apart, replacing it.

_"So the ones she wield are both a weapon, as well as a replacement for the ones on her back... Means she has another replacement left, which is a weapon for now."_ I thought as I concentrated on the onbashira hovering to her right.

"One less... Doesn't matter. I still have five left... And I am still in a nearly perfect condition. You've grown weak, Chôzen Gekido, Insei no Youkai. Just how did you beat Yakumo earlier this afternoon?" taunted Kanako as she moved the remaining flying onbashira around a little.

"I didn't get any weaker. You merely became stronger..." I shot right back, tightening my grip around Alastor with my left hand, while my right hand went up in emerald flames. Kanako watched this with great interest, even she must have noticed the change of shade of my green energy.

"You're complimenting me?" asked Kanako with a small frown but a nasty smirk on her lips.

"I guess so. Just because we fight each other doesn't mean I can't accept your strength and comment on it, right?" I chuckled, and Kanako nodded, agreeing silently.

Seeing our silence as a sign that it would continue, we both moved towards each other again. Kanako swung her right hand forwards, willing the onbashira to follow her and thrust into my direction. I jumped over it and landed on top of the wooden log, glared down at it, then sled over the log until I was at it's end and right in front of Kanako.

"How are you doing it?" I asked as I began to fight her in close combat, with her using her left arm to block my punches and her right hand to keep the log I was on steady.

"How am I doing what?" she inquired and tried to hide it as she swung her right hand up, which I spotted nonetheless. I fell to the right and somersaulted, landed in front of Kanako just as the onbashira I had been on slammed up into the ceiling of the ship, breaking it. I heard Letty scream and Yuuka gasp sharply above us, indicating that they had almost been hit when the ground beneath them had broken apart.

I glared up through the hole and spotted Mima and Cirno on top of the mast, attacking each other with the crescent staff and an ice sword respectively.

"How can you control these onbashira like that? You're not telekinetic." I stated and blocked one of her punches of her left hand, even though it forced me to take two steps back.

"I was wondering when you'd ask... Remember that I have control over rain water by using my powers to create sky?" she asked and swung the right hand down, the onbashira following and slamming down right to my feet.

"You use your ability to create sky to cause storms... I remember that. You used to create rain storms, since you can control the rain, as it is part of such a storm... I think you keep a basin full of that water in the sanctuary of the Moriya Shrine. What about it?" I shot back and rushed over the still lying onbashira. Kanako moved her hand up and the pillar followed her command, but I had already stepped aside and thus was spared as the onbashira slammed into the ceiling again, breaking it open.

I reached Kanako, swung Alastor down, but she dodged the blade and the hand burning in emerald flames.

"Have a guess..." chuckled Kanako and swung her hand down. I heard how the faith pillar hit the ground behind me and broke through it. I glanced shortly into that direction and found that the onbashira had broken through the ground and had opened the way down into the story below... We'd better avoid going down there. If she'd break the ground or the walls there, the entire ship would sink in a matter of seconds.

"I don't know. Tell me." I growled and moved in for another attack.

"The faith pillars are soaked in rain water." revealed Kanako, swinging her right hand up. I had no time to prepare myself as the onbashira broke through the ground right beneath my feet and knocked me up into the ceiling, this time without breaking through it.

After slamming into the ceiling, I fell down, but since there was a hole beneath me now, I fell down into the lowest story of the ship, the one that I had wanted to avoid. Hitting the ground uncomfortably hard, I could only groan and snarl as my body ached.

I knew that Kanako was somewhere above me as I rose from the ground and swayed left and right. She was awaiting me to resurface from the hole I had fallen into, knew that following me would be to her disadvantage... But she also probably knew that I'd be up to something if I'd take too long to do so.

Whatever I was going to do... I better did it now. And it would have to change the place for this battle. Inside a ship was just the wrong place... But if I'd get her on top of the ship somehow, even though we'd probably get into the way of Mima's battle that way, I'd stand a chance against her... Probably.

Suddenly, the single, floating onbashira slammed through the ceiling above me. It wasn't anywhere near me, but sign for me that Kanako was searching for me, hoping to smash me with that thing.

I waited until it had retreated, then took a few steps back, just to make sure that she'd not hit me after all, and summoned Alastor again. As the onbashira broke through the ceiling again and tried to smash me, missing me by far, I rushed forward and charged Alastor up with negative energy, just to make sure it was powerful enough.

And indeed, it did work. The blade of guilt cut through the onbashira as I swung it horizontally. The part of the onbashira that I had cut off fell to the ground before me, and I heard Kanako growl in displeasure above me. Looking up, I could see her staring down at me through the hole that the onbashira had created.

I had to take two steps back as Kanako threw the other half of the onbashira down at me, but as soon as it had fallen to the ground, I took two steps forward again and dismissed Alastor. Instead, I summoned a spellcard into my right hand. Now that I knew where Kanako was above me, it would be easy to change things.

"Negative Bullet!" I announced and the spellcard in my hand began to glow green.

The glow extended around my body and became unstable. Gravity and air resistance were negated anew and I began my free fall... This time, upwards.

My body smashed into the ceiling and broke through it, I heard Kanako gasp in shock and surprise as I slammed into her from below and pushed the two of us through the next ceiling.

Out of the ship's belly.

* * *

_Yuuka's PoV_

_~ Music change: Yui ~ Again ~_

I heard the wood behind me break apart. That idiot Chôzen and the goddess he was fighting must've been the reason for that.

Glaring over my shoulder after I had thrown Letty across the ship, I found Chôzen pushing Yasaka into the air. The two of them were glowing green. I remembered that attack of Chôzen... It was the same attack that had once cleansed Mima's body of the corrupted twilight energy, the same kind of power that once had nearly defeated Mima.

It was the Negative Bullet.

Yasaka was screaming bloody murder as Chôzen discharged all of the negative energy that made his body glow into her. In front of my inner eye, the scene from back then repeated. In my mind, I saw his perfectly indifferent face just before he had charged towards Mima and had defeated her. In my mind, everything was just like back then.

Something slammed into my side and knocked me over, pulled me out of my memories back into reality. I hissed as I stumbled a few steps, then rose to my full height to glare at Letty Whiterock, which had used my distracted state to attack me with a tackle.

She cringed as I glared daggers, and quickly dove out of the way as I pointed my parasol at her. I waited until she had dashed behind the mast and hid behind it, then allowed my glare to ease a little. I glanced towards where I had seen Chôzen and Yasaka... Chôzen was on all fours, hissing and panting in what I easily recognized as pain. Yasaka, on the other hand, was laying on her back in front of him, writhing in just as much pain as he was.

Turning back into the direction of Letty and the mast, I narrowed my eyes and bared my teeth.

"Master Spark!" I declared. Immediately, the tip of my parasol began to glow in a rainbow color, followed by the rainbow laser only a few seconds later. My feet sled over the wet planks as I was pushed back a few inches, the powerful blast of color being released. I smirked to myself and imagined how Letty, screaming in shock just before she and that mast were obliterated.

Now imagine my surprise when the original Master Spark, MY Master Spark, just bounced off the goddamn mast, deflected to the side and hit the barrier of Yasaka, where it was absorbed.

"Yuuka, what are you doing?!" I heard Mima complain somewhere behind me, increasing the rage that had just built up within me.

"I'm not doing anything! Something is wrong with that mast...!" I complained silently, not even to Mima but rather to myself. I eyed the mast, silently wondered how the hell a stupid log had just deflected my Master Spark, but then disregarded it with a huff and ran towards the mast, the parasol held tightly in my right hand.

I reached the mast and rounded it, found Letty cowering there. With a short smirk to myself, I rose the parasol and swung it at the height of Letty's head with the intention to decapitate her. That went wrong as well, though, when Letty let out a squeal and dove to the side, causing the parasol to slam into the mast.

If anything would've been normal now, the parasol would've sliced through the mast and would've knocked it over due to my tremendous strength. But that thing was not normal, I was sure the moment that the parasol impacted with it and did not damage it in any way. Instead, my shoulder began to hurt like hell.

"What is with that stupid thing?!" I snarled and took a few steps away from the mast that had just received two of my strongest attacks and had not suffered any damage.

I never got my answer. Instead, something heavy impacted with my back. I screamed out in pain as cold and pain flooded my back, then bit down on my tongue and twirled around to glare at Letty. As I did so, the large snowball that had hit my back fell to the ground and began to melt.

"What do you think you're doing, Whiterock? Do you really believe that winter can overcome summer? Do you really thing that cold will ever win against warmth? Snow stands no chance against the sun. And I just happen to represent the flower that represents the sun!" I shouted, swinging my left hand like a claw.

Letty cringed again and took a few steps away from me, then pushed both of her hands forward. Cold air hit my face as Letty released a whirl of snow and I snarled. I hated the cold, hated it. Cold killed flowers. Cold ended the beauty of autumn. Cold meant that winter had come... And winter was just a boring absence of color, just white of snow.

I didn't hate Letty Whiterock herself, but what she represented. Actually, the two of us always got along pretty well... She did love flowers as well, even though she barely ever got to see them because she vanished once it became too warm, and only returned once the end of autumn drew closer... She never really had the chance to just admire flowers.

In my eyes, though, Letty Whiterock was the only flower that really survived winter, the only flower that survived the cold. She was the flower of winter, the only sight that kept my heart warm in winter (aside Mima, but that was a different kind of warmth, the warmth Mima gave me was that warmth that only love could give).

Letty'd usually pay me a visit every winter and we'd enjoy some tea together while we talked about what had happened that year... Mostly, it was me informing her, though. So, I guess you can say I am actually good friends with Letty.

I still hate her cold, though.

"Master Spark!" I roared and narrowed my eyes on the flower of winter. She let out a last gasp, then was swallowed within the colorfulness of my Master Spark. When she did resurface, she was lying on the ground, out cold.

As beautiful as Letty was... She wasn't exactly strong or resistant. And, she still had the disadvantage against me, our elements only opposites and nothing more.

I turned on the spot, twirled into the direction of Mima. This battle was taking too long already... It had never been supposed to be this long. I respected Cirno, Daiyousei and Letty, but neither of them did have the strength to really keep up with an evil spirit that could very well be a goddess, an exalted Flower Youkai and a goddess. In the end, they were only two fairies and a Youkai. Nothing compared to us.

But as I was about to jump over to where Mima fought Cirno at the back of the ship, something got in my way and prevented me from doing so.

"Hey, watch where you swing that thing!" I roared at the walking enigma after his stupid blade had just missed my face by a few inches.

"Sorry!" He shouted back and pulled on the chains wrapped around his left arm, pulling the blade of guilt he had thrown past me back towards him. Kanako Yasaka flew past me, the chains wrapped around her waist, but as she did so, she grabbed one of the onbashira from her back and swung it over her head.

The last thing I saw of either her or Chôzen was how the onbashira crashed into the floor just in front of him, a large hole in the ground swallowing the two of them. A few seconds later, the side of the ship broke open and Kanako pushed Chôzen through the air into the barrier.

I let out an irritated snarl, then pushed myself off the ground to move over to Mima to help her. But once again, was stopped when Daiyousei got in the way and released colorful bullets into all directions at once in an apparently random pattern.

Opening the parasol in my right hand as fast as possible, I used it as a shield to block all of the bullets. This, however, forced me to land on the ground rather than jumping over to Mima. The moment I landed, I pushed myself off again, away from Mima and Daiyousei.

As I flew backwards, I allowed myself to look around for Shinki, who had fought against Daiyousei before.

_"Where is she? You can't tell me that a weak fairy defeated the goddess of Makai! Even I cannot defeat Shinki just like that!"_ shot through my head.

"Yuuka!" I heard her call, and turned into the other direction. Shinki was flying into my direction, her red robe waving in the wind. She looked unscathed, not like Daiyousei had hurt her at all. So why was the fairy attacking me now?!

"She's fast...! I couldn't keep up with her speed... She isn't strong, but dodges everything..." panted the goddess as soon as I was in earshot.

_"Ah. So that's the reason."_

"I see. Figures. I expected nothing less from her..." I murmured to myself, then used my parasol to shield myself and Shinki from more of Daiyousei's random bullets, "And those random bullets sure don't help. You don't even know what to expect... I can't read her attack patterns."

"That was my problem as well..." agreed Shinki silently as she pushed herself against me so that the pink parasol would shield us both. I let out a loud snarl at the thought of such a thing dragging the fight on longer than necessary... And decided for a different approach.

"Go help Mima. I take care of this." I hissed towards the Makaian goddess. I felt how she began to frown at me, but at least she knew better than to question me and nodded. I waited until she had left the safety of the parasol and vanished fro my sight, then abruptly closed the parasol. Even though this meant that I was hit by a few of the bullets. Then again, they were weak and merely irritating, like touching the sharp end of a needle and nothing more.

I aimed. I narrowed my eyes. I pointed the tip of the parasol at Daiyousei.

"MASTER SPARK!" I roared as I unleashed the powerful blow. And once more, my feet sled over the wet planks as the powerful blast of rainbow colors ripped through the sky.

But it didn't hit Daiyousei, much to my chagrin.

Just like Shinki had said, the little fairy that always hid behind Cirno was fast and knew how to react to attacks like these. She rolled out of the way in a fancy evasive action, stopped in midair and pointed her hands at me, and then unleashed more power than I had ever given her credit for. In fact, the thin but fast laser that she released was so powerful that the recoil caused her to be thrown off balance in midair, backflipping several times.

I cringed as her fast laser, way too fast for me to avoid, went through my right shoulder. And unlike the 'needles' before, this one felt like an entire iron rod being pushed through my shoulder. Gasping in pain, I actually let go of my parasol as my entire right arm became numb for a few seconds. The parasol clattered as it hit the wooden planks I stood on. And my rage skyrocketed.

Not only was this taking too long for enemies of this power, but they were also mocking us with their weakness!

"You damn little bug...!" I snarled and bowed down to pick my parasol up again, then glared at the little fairy, "I'm going to squish you!"

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV_

_~ Through rain and storm, our rivalry remains strong! Music change: __Mercenary - Embrace the nothing ~_

"Not going to happen!" I bellowed over the sound of an onbashira impacting with the barrier below, breaking on impact with it. I was standing with my feet against the barrier, meaning I was in a position parallel to the ground. Moving backwards, meaning up the barrier, I eventually rested my feet against it to slow me down, negative energy sliding against the barrier through my feet.

Kanako impacted with the barrier below me, rested her feet against it and detached one of the four onbashira from her back. The faith pillar floated to her right for a few seconds, at least until Kanako thrusted her right hand forwards, sending the onbashira into my direction. I dodged it by pushing myself off the barrier, but not too far away from it.

Gravity affected me again as soon as I stopped flying, I began to fall towards the water below, but my intention was not to hit it. Instead, I fell past the onbashira Kanako had thrown at me and extended my legs, tensed them up as good as possible.

My feet slammed into Kanako's face and she let out a gasp of pain as I knocked her off the barrier. With her below me, we fell towards the water surface below. The moment right before we impacted with it, I pushed off her face and back into the air thanks to my ability to fly. How I had missed it! It was so much easier to fly, but the outside world doesn't believe in magic anymore, making it impossible to do so.

If no one believed in it, it didn't exist. In Gensokyo, flying was common, and thus everyone believed in it. Common sense just didn't work in Gensokyo.

Not waiting for Kanako to resurface, I returned to the ship and landed on top of it, making sure to remain out of the way of a mad Yuuka. Whatever had happened had left her in an enraged state. She was shooting Master Sparks everywhere, trying to hit a flying Daiyousei. What a good thing that the barrier that Kanako had created could withstand any of the Master Sparks that missed Daiyousei...

Just a few seconds after my feet had set down on the unsound planks of the ship, I heard water splashing behind me and twirled around. Kanako had resurfaced, and she didn't looked pleased at all about her clothes being wet now.

_**"Let's use this to give her a bombastic welcome!"**_ laughed my Flame-Soul, and upon turning towards it, I found it floating above...

A cannon.

It was one of these old-fashioned cannons you'd expect and use on this kind of ship. A barrel of gunpowder was aside it, leading to the conclusion that it was indeed ready to shoot. And I didn't even have to do anything... My Flame-Soul touched the fuse gently, which immediately lit up.

Kanako was closing in, not expecting anything. I felt kind of bad for doing such a thing, or rather allowing it, but I guess I'd just return the favor. After all, she had started with the heavy artillery... I don't know what else to classify gigantic onbashira as.

The fuse was almost burnt down when I glanced from Kanako down on it. I felt my fingers twitch, silently happy that she didn't expect a thing...

The fuse reached it's end. Kanako was exactly in one line with it. An explosion occurred.

...Nothing was shot at Kanako.

_**"Empty...?"**_

_"It's empty?! Damn you, Yúgure and your need for detail!"_

Kanako tackled into me and knocked me over. Flying across the ship, my back was sliding against the wet wooden planks, Kanako atop me. I saw Yuuka for a second, followed by Kanako's fist impacting with my face and sending the back of my head into the ground. I snarled in pain, pulled my legs in and slammed my knees into the gut of the goddess.

She fell off me and cursed, giving me the chance to get the hell away from her while she was still down.

_"You and your damn ideas. I'm not going to trust you with them again, Flame-Soul!"_

I rolled past a small amount of barrels, hid behind them in hope for Kanako to not spot me. I spotted Letty Whiterock on the ground not too far away from me, her state indicating that she had obviously been hit by a Master Spark from Yuuka. Apropos her, I could still hear her cursing and snarling as she fired one Master Spark after another. Really, she wasn't going to get the way too fast Daiyousei with them anyways...

"FOUND YOU!" I heard Kanako behind me. My reflexes kicked in an I rolled away from the barrels, just as an onbashira slammed through them. From out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Kanako rushing towards me with three onbashira on her back and one at her side, but she never got to me, a Master Spark stopping her in her steps as it separated us.

I stopped and prepared for the Master Spark to die down, my hands ignited in emerald flames in hope to surprise Kanako with an orb of negative energy. I cringed slightly as I suddenly felt a back against my own, and glanced over my shoulder for a second just to see who it was.

Of course, it was Mima.

"What do you want, Mima? Can't you see I'm kind of busy...?" I muttered over my shoulder, turning my gaze back to the Master Spark that had yet to die down.

"In case you didn't notice, I am too!" replied Mima sharply, and as I glanced over my shoulder again and past her, I spotted Shinki fleeing from Cirno, who was waving her gigantic ice sword around in dangerous, apparently random, moves.

"Anyways... Just wanted to welcome you back properly. It's been a long time." added the astral being and let out a low chuckle. I snorted in reply and turned back to the Master Spark, which was now accompanied by a second one, meaning that Yuuka had summoned her clone for her famous Dual Spark. I silently wondered when Kanako would realize that she could just jump over it, but prayed it would take her another few seconds so I could finish the small conversation with Mima.

"Thanks. But don't you think now is the wrong time to welcome me back? Why didn't you do so earlier when you had the chance?" I shot back at the evil spirit, receiving only a cruel laugh in return.

"I am freaking Mima, Chôzen. I do what I want whenever I want. I can fly, I can walk through walls and I can cast magic. And that's only the surface of it."

"Point taken." I grumbled under my breath, "Still, how about we postpone this lovely conversation of ours to a later point? You know... One when I am not fighting a mad goddess and you're not supposed to beat a weak fairy around. Geez, what's the deal with that, anyways? It's Cirno you're fighting against, you should've knocked her out the moment the fight started! Aren't you going a bit too easy on her?"

"Meh, guess you're right. Actually, though, I didn't feel like crushing her dream of becoming the champion of this tournament just then. Let her have her fun... I'm going to allow her to beat me a bit around, and then, once I'm sure she had enough fun, I beat the ice out of her." explained the evil spirit.

"And what's with Shinki? Isn't she supposed to be able to beat Cirno as well?"

"She agreed with me on this. The only one against it was Yuuka... And well, that's why we made her fight Daiyousei. Yuuka is too slow to hit her." replied Mima, to which I send her a frown of disbelief over my shoulder.

"Look, don't worry. You're going to fight us in the semi-finals. I'm not trying to talk that ice fairy's power down or anything, I know that she actually got surprising strength... Still nothing I can't just defeat, though. And let's face it: Letty Whiterock's powers are not of the offensive kind... And Daiyousei lacks power. All she has is acting random, and that's not going to help her." huffed Mima eventually.

It was that moment that Daiyousei rushed past my head, followed by the Dual Spark dying down to allow Yuuka to change her direction, right before both of the Yuukas, both the real one and the clone, fired their respective, rainbow-colored lasers of utter destruction into another direction.

Kanako was revealed as soon as the lasers had died down. I felt how Mima pushed off my back and vanished, leaving me to fight Kanako again, and silently shake my head at Mima. Then again, what had I been expecting? That Mima would've changed?

With Kanako charging at me again, I was forced to take a step back and defend. The onbashira she wielded sled along the blade of Alastor as I called upon it, and then was pushed back with enough force to sent it back towards Kanako. She cursed, rolled aside, and the onbashira flew right into the mast of the ship.

And as it did, it snapped in two.

I frowned at that, but didn't have the time to think it through. Kanako, now with only three onbashira left, pulled another one off her back and pointed it at me. A dark blue laser was shot at me, forcing me to roll away. It impacted with the ground behind me and blasted another hole into the already pretty damaged ship.

Daiyousei flew past me, followed by Yuuka and her clone, right before I charged at Kanako in order to catch her off guard. I didn't, though, and we ended up in yet another brawl, with me defending most of her blows. And finally, I saw another chance and rushed past her, summoned Alastor again to slash through one of the two onbashira left on her back. She turned, though, and I ended up missing the onbashira.

I thought I had her, though, and twirled on the spot to kick her legs away, but she merely jumped over my attack and onto me, using her entire weight to slam me through the ground. The unsound planks broke underneath me and we ended up in the belly of the ship again, the same room as before.

Throwing the goddess off me, I began to crawl away from her, still on my back. Kanako cursed when I threw orbs of negative energy at her, but blocked most of them with the onbashira she was wielding with her right hand. Rising to my feet, I pushed negative energy into my feet to charge at her, Alastor held tightly within my left hand as I was aiming for the onbashira of the goddess.

The fight would get easier once Kanako would actually be without her onbashira.

Just as I was about to reach her, Kanako swung the onbashira back. I saw that as my chance to cut through it once it would swing into my direction, but all that I received as a painful blow into my back as the onbashira came at me from the other side. Kanako had swapped the control of it from her right to her left hand behind her back.

I couldn't help but curse out in frustration and pain as I was thrown through the wall of the ship and ended up flying above the water outside. Fighting Kanako in a closed space like that was no good, even if it limited the movements of her onbashira. But exactly because of that did the movements become more complicated, as it wasn't as easy as outside to expect them.

Of course, Kanako followed me out of the ship the moment that I landed atop it. She surfaced from the hole we had created before and glared daggers at me. I spotted Mima behind the raging goddess, moving backwards as she blocked the hits of Cirno's ice sword with her crescent moon staff. Was she still going easy on Cirno? Or had the fairy indeed grown more powerful during the past twenty years?

...Or did Yukari do something to her? Let's say, manipulate the border of Cirno's strength, for example?

"Hey, Kanako." I called out, even though I mentally prepared myself to attack her again, "I've got to admit... You've become a lot stronger in the past twenty years. Quite impressive how a grudge can push you further than your limit, huh? But don't you think that keeping a grudge like that is unhealthy? Just watch out that you don't become like Mima. Or are you telling me you want an unhealthy pale expression like that?"

Both the evil spirit and the goddess stopped for a moment to glare at me, neither of them liking to be compared to the other in any way. Seeing that Kanako had let her guard down, I rushed forwards with every little ounce of speed I could get.

Before Kanako knew, I was standing behind her and had cut through all of her onbashira. I only had to do so once, rendering each of the onbashira useless as they fell apart.

I couldn't help but smirk in triumph as I rose from my crouched position and glanced over my shoulder at her. Leaning Alastor onto my left shoulder, I slowly turned to face the shocked goddess and the remains of the onbashira.

"Well, well... Looks like I got the upper hand, Orochi. You lose." I sniggered and prepared myself for the next attack.

"My, that cockiness! I almost dare to say that I missed it..." snorted Kanako and rose her right hand, pointing it at me, "But I actually dare to say that you are wrong! I have the upper hand! Quite literally!"

It took me only two seconds to realize that she wasn't pointing her hand at, but past me. I twirled around, looked around for anything that could be another hidden faith pillar. And as Kanako swung her hand down, the only hidden onbashira swung first away from me, and then back into my direction.

The mast was coming down on me.

"The bloody...!" I roared as I dove to the side, barely audible over Kanako's loud laughter. Missing me by only mere inches, the gigantic onbashira that the mast was hit the next best thing... The ship.

_~ Music ends ~ _

* * *

_Nanatsu no Taizai's PoV_

"UNBELIEVABLE!" echoed Aya's voice through the entire arena, accompanied by gasps and shouts of disbelief and shock. I myself was merely frowning when the entire ship snapped in two and began to sink after being hit by the falling mast. I had expected something like this. With Chôzen, you had to expect such things.

"Yasaka-sama just broke the ship in two! And that's not even her fight! Contestants Mima and Shinki have been separated from their team member Yuuka, and are now at the steep front part of the ship with contestant Daiyousei, while Yuuka is on what little has remained on the middle of the ship with Cirno! Can this change everything? Can someone please stop Yasaka-sama and contestant Chôzen?" continued Aya, leaving me to sigh.

"Who would've thought that the mast of the ship was actually a faith pillar. It's almost as if Yasaka-sama has planned to fight contestant Chôzen on it..." added Akyuu in amusement, looking up from whatever she was writing again.

"Screw that... Remember who created tha' ship! Cutie Yúgure is a friggin' spy, I tell ya!" laughed Sly rather loudly, slamming his flask down on the table.

"Sly is right... Does this mean that Yúgure did this on purpose? Well, I remember seeing Yasaka-sama talking with her earlier... So Yasaka-sama talked Yúgure into creating a ship with a faith pillar as it's mast?" murmured Rinnosuke finally, and I immediately let out a deep sigh. So Kanako did have planned this... Well, I bet she thought she'd hit Chôzen, rather than the ship. And now, the ship was parted into three, the back of the ship and the front of the ship both in a steep position while the middle was swimming around.

Mima, Shinki and Daiyousei were at the front of the ship, Yuuka and Cirno on the middle, and Chôzen and Kanako were fighting at the back of the ship, near to where the mast stuck in a step position in the water, leaned into their direction.

"It's always the same with him and Kanako..." sighed Marisa and scratched the back of her neck as she closed her eyes, "I heard quite a lot about the destruction that their battles cause. Suwako mentioned that they destroyed the Moriya Shrine's roof more than once... And don't forget the short chaos they caused on Miss Mima's and Yuuka's first wedding, da ze..."

"Well, that is true..." I admitted uneasily, "Kanako and Chôzen are kinda like night and day. Each is quite stubborn and wants to be the one on top."

"Sounds like they have an attraction towards each other if you ask me." commented Momiji in her overly serious way, a careful glance cast into my direction.

"They do. Chôzen admitted so several years ago. He even admitted that he nearly gave into it several times, but that Kanako and he never went beyond fighting. Their relationship is, if you wish to say so, entirely based on encounters in which they fight til they have no strength left. There's no romance, no emotions are bonded to it." I replied and increased my stare on Chôzen as he twisted out of the way of Kanako's punches.

"Are you sure about that? How can you be so sure? If their relationship is entirely physical, have you never feared that they might give into that? Until now, they have only fought... What if their physical relationship turns into physical attraction? Have you ever thought about that?" countered Momiji with a frown that caused me to frown at her as well, "They say fighting is another way to show your emotions... And it can bond."

"I don't think that'll ever happen." I replied and allowed myself to smile softly, "He has Rumia for the physical stuff."

The Angel of Death to my right cringed madly, then stared at me with an expression that was neither fully a glare, nor a confused frown.

"What? Are you going to deny that? I don't remember you being the romantic one, Rumia. You're bold, to the point, always yearning for physical attention no matter if affectionate or in shape of a fight, and every romantic advance into your direction ends with you going too far and ending up on top." I chuckled. And, seeing the Angel of Death huff, turn away and blush, I knew I was right.

"She's always been that way." commented Marisa slowly, too engrossed with the fight of Mima and Daiyousei, "Rumia, I mean. Kanako, I can't say."

"The hell are you talking about relationships and romance now? We're watching a fight here, goddamn it! And three of them, at that!" growled Rumia, obviously trying to change the topic. I let out a sigh at that, scratched the back of my neck a bit, and then returned my focus on the battle... Just in the right moment.

Yuuka, who had landed to point her parasol at Cirno, got one hell of a surprise when her legs were suddenly enveloped in a thick layer of ice from the ground up. She was cursing aloud and wriggled around... She'd only need a few seconds to free herself, I was sure of that.

A few seconds that gave Cirno everything she needed.

She shouted something and threw her hands into the air, accidentally throwing her ice sword away as she did so. Stupid her. However, whatever she had just summoned, it was more effective than I had ever guessed, displaying powers I had never ever trusted her to have.

Whatever she had done, it froze the entire battlefield over, covering it in a thick layer of ice and turning the body of water into ice.

What no one would've expected, not even I, was that Cirno's ice wings began to glow in an ice-blue light from within. They grew a bit in size, indicating the boost Cirno was getting from the cold area... And she wasn't the only one.

Mima's expression became blank as she saw Daiyousei's speed increase, her wings glowing yellow all of sudden.

"Not bad. So Cirno wasn't kiddin' when she told me she and Dai had trained, ze. I mean... Look at that! The baka came up with a way to increase their powers!" exclaimed Marisa.

"Now I'm interested... Seems that we all had underestimated her. The only question now is... Will it be enough to overcome Mima, Yuuka and Shinki? When they're serious, I mean?" I muttered and narrowed my eyes.

_"There are more questions I have... How will this affect Chôzen's fight with Kanako? And... if Cirno indeed manages to beat Mima, Yuuka and Shinki with Daiyousei's help despite the large gap of strength in between them... Can we beat them?"_

* * *

_Mima's PoV_

"Watch out. I have a bad feeling about this..." I muttered to Shinki, who was standing to my right, yet I never averted my gaze from the green-haired fairy floating at the very front of the ship. The white-haired goddess of Makai glanced into my direction, all kindness gone from her expression. It wasn't any different with me, though.

"So we stop holding back?" inquired Shinki, earning a nod from me.

"We do. We allowed them to have their little enjoyment, now it's time to defeat them... Before things go out of hand." I murmured and held the crescent staff in front of me, twilight energy gathering in the crescent moon at the top of it, waiting for me to cast my magic.

"Do you really think they can defeat us? I am usually not one to overestimate myself or underestimate my enemies, but what makes you believe that this can end any different than us winning? We are a goddess, an evil spirit that could very well be a goddess, and an exalted Youkai known for her power..." asked Shinki. For me, there was only one answer.

"Merely the fact that Cirno is a fairy that has surpassed the shackles of exactly that should make you cautious, Shinki. Cirno has gone beyond what she is already and is still going further, has proven so on several chances. Much like I have surpassed the shackles of being a mere ghost, Cirno has surpassed the shackles of being a mere fairy... She still might not be the smartest, but she sure is something else." I replied, silently waiting for Daiyousei to do anything.

"It's like she is not bonded to what she is... It's like she doesn't have any rules applied to her. Her strength could be considered as weak compared to ours, but is more than nine times as powerful in comparison to that of an average fairy." I growled, narrowed my eyes, "And don't forget... Even a blunt axe can cut a tree if it hits often enough. She may not able to defeat us with one blow, but if we get hit too often, it will eventually also drain our strength..."

"You're thinking further than the surface... You could very well be a goddess, Mima." snorted Shinki with a smug grin, "But what about the ice fairies friend here? Surely she cannot be considered as much of a threat as Cirno..."

"I'm not sure... All I know is that she is not to be underestimated. She's not a normal fairy as well..." I breathed, aiming closely. Might as well start this if Daiyousei refused to.

"Before we start this again now... What was of that great importance that you had to speak with my son?" inquired Shinki, her gaze shifting over to Daiyousei as well.

"Still referring to him as that? He's not your son, you know?" I asked. I don't think I understand that connection of Chôzen and Shinki, this unlikely acceptance of Chôzen and Shinki as son and mother respectively... And I don't think I'll ever understand. I don't know much about family and how it works... Back when I was alive, I had none. After my death, I was alone. The closest thing I ever had to family was Yuuka... And of course, now Kurumi and Elly.

"He may not be my son, as we are not related by blood... But neither is one of my daughters, aside Alice. Only she carries my genetical information inside her. But does that make her my only daughter? Can I not accept my creations, my girls, as my daughters? Being family doesn't only limit to genetic relation, but that of mind and soul as well. And no matter what you say or do... My girls are my daughters. And Chôzen is my son. It is the connection of the mind, relation of the soul." explained Shinki.

"Meh. I'll never get it." I snorted, still focused on Daiyousei, who had merely listened to us, "Don't even try explaining it. I cannot relate to it, and cannot understand it. Let's just focus on defeating the fairies and get this done with."

"Fine. But I don't understand why you deny having felt the wonderful warmth that only a family can give? Surely you must view Yuuka as such." smiled the goddess of Makai in her usual way, leaving me to sigh.

_~ Music change: Bleach - Destiny Awaits ~_

I didn't answer her question, though. Now focusing back on the battle, I summoned forth the twilight energy I had gathered in my staff, creating a gigantic sun seal on the ground as it slammed down on it. This would be a countdown to the end of this battle... A spell I had created to ensure my secure victory. I'd need it against Chôzen, but I had something else in store for him...

The dance of witches.

The sun seal beneath our feet began to change slightly, slowly began to set, as I prepared to attack Daiyousei. It would take a few minutes, but as soon as the sun would be nearly completely gone, I'd get an immense power boost. Why? This seal's purpose was to create a fake sunset in a certain area... And, because sunset meant twilight, I'd be at my strongest.

I knew that there was someone else who would've been able to help me with that. Years ago, I had worked with him. Him, Abendsonne. Back all those years ago, he had revealed his powers to me, powers that had given my own a boost. But he was at Higan now. Shikieiki had found him. Damn her.

"Ready, lil' fairy?" I asked, "I'm kind of sorry to tell you, but once I'm done with you, there will be nothing left but smithereens."

To my surprise, the fairy began to smile in a way I'd almost call... Demonic? Dangerous? Whatever it was, I didn't like it. Not at all.

"Smithereens, you say, Miss Mima Kazami?" chortled Daiyousei slowly, "Don't you mean... Snowflakes?"

I felt my breath stop for a moment, shocked as Daiyousei suddenly began to dissolve from the feet up, turning into some white dust that was immediately blown away by a soft breeze. Shocked and confused, I began to glance around, looking for any sign of the fairy.

I could feel Shinki resting her back against mine, trying to find our opponent as well in the other direction.

"What happened?! Where is she...?!" inquired the goddess. I snarled in reply, my eyes darting around.

"I don't have a clue... She suddenly just dissipated..." I murmured, alerted. We both were now. Whatever had just happened... I had not expected it. And as such, I was not prepared for what was to come.

"Say, Mima..." began Shinki after a few seconds and I felt her shiver against my back, "Is it getting cold here?"

"Well... Cirno did freeze the whole area..." I whispered in reply, my gaze stopping on Yuuka and Cirno for a second. Yuuka tried to stab Cirno, but the ice fairy summoned a thick wall of ice in between them. She had gotten smart, I had to give her that. While she certainly wasn't the best at Danmaku Battles, she was quite good at real battles...

"I suppose so. Still... I feel like the temperature is dropping quite fast. My insides feel like they are about to freeze over... The air is so cold that my lungs hurt..." murmured Shinki. I froze, stopped my gaze. Slowly, I turned to look over my shoulder.

"Shinki..." I whispered, "The air is... The air hasn't gotten colder at all. Cirno's ice froze the water, but the temperature hasn't dropped at all."

The goddess and I shared a short glance... Right before she suddenly dropped to the ground and fainted. I stared at her unconscious form, unsure what to make of it.

I took a deep breath, hissed... Whatever had just hit Shinki had caused her to faint. I hadn't seen anything at all, but it had hurt a goddess enough to drain her of all power. And what had that been about the air being cold? It was warm, hasn't changed at all in temperature.

What to do now? What should I do?! Shinki was just as powerful as me, and yet she had fainted. Yet, she had been knocked out. Was this Daiyousei's little trick? She had turned invisible? If so, it should be easy for me to make out her location with the help of my magic, but... But this didn't feel like invisibility. This wasn't invisibility. This was something else, something way more dangerous.

We had underestimated Daiyousei. We had underestimated her will to help Cirno. She wasn't powerful, but wasn't incredibly weak at all. Unlike Cirno, she had yet to surpass the shackles of a fairy, and yet wasn't a normal fairy. I should've been more analytical to begin with, more cautious.

Now, I had to find out what she had done to Shinki.

What could've caused Shinki to be defeated like that, and how was it related to cold air...?!

I swallowed. I looked around again. Daiyousei had to be here somewhere... She must've just escaped my sight so far. But that wouldn't happen again. I would find her. I would...

The air was cold.

I froze. In between one breath and another, the air had turned incredibly cold. My lungs hurt. My lungs were aching. My body was aching. For whatever reason, I felt like my insides had just frozen over. But the most pain was located in my chest. Pain. Pain. PAIN!

I began to scream, wanted to scream my lungs out. Screaming and trashing about, I began to claw my head and pull on my hair, stomped on the ground. Where was this pain coming from?! Why did everything hurt so much?! It felt like my lungs were filled with... cold air? Cold air!

_"Of course...!"_

Despite my pain, I forced my body to stop trashing about. I glared at the sun seal beneath my feet, which was half set by now. Only a few more minutes would remain until the sun would set... And then, would bathe the room in twilight. And then, I'd be at my strongest.

That was not important right now, though. I had to get rid of the pain.

My glare switched from the sun seal to the crescent staff in my hands. The crescent moon began to glow in orange as I poured twilight energy into it. I leaned onto the staff, leaned it towards me. The pain increased, forced me to cough and growl.

The tip of the crescent moon pointed at my face. All of the energy in the moon gathered into a small orb at the tip of the crescent moon. I swallowed, coughed again, the coldness spreading into my throat.

_"Take that, you little parasite...!"_

In one fast movement, I opened my mouth and took a deep breath, inhaling the twilight orb. I had to force myself to not gag on the warm energy that went down my throat, had to force myself not to swallow. I had to make sure that the energy entered my lungs, rather than my stomach...

"KYAAAAH!"

The girlish scream that left my throat was not my own. However, it was followed by white dust leaving my body through my mouth and my nose, white dust that gathered into a dense cloud in front of me.

I fell onto my knees the moment that the last bit of this dust had left my body. With only the warmth of the twilight energy inside my body now, the cold was leaving quickly and I felt how my body slowly began to regenerate.

"What an... Annoying ability you have there, fairy..." I forced out, growled as I panted, "Dissipating into... Snowflakes. You shouldn't have... Told me."

_~ Music change: Yui - Rolling Star ~_

As these words left my mouth, the white dust in front of me began to gather into a more distinct shape, which quickly regained colors... Green, blue... The white dust became Daiyousei. The snowflakes turned into Daiyousei, the fairy of snowflakes.

"That was mean, Miss Mima Kazami! Too warm!" complained the fairy, even though a mocking smile lay upon her lips, "But you are right. Letty is snow, Cirno is ice... I am snowflakes. We are what you could call the cold trio that makes up winter. Each of us represents an aspect of cold..."

I growled louder as she chuckled, pushed myself onto my feet again. They changed into my characteristic ghost tail. At the same time, I channeled the remains of the twilight energy, the energy that had warmed my lungs, through my body into my right palm, which I pushed forwards.

A bright glowing orb of yellow, orange and black flew at great speed towards Daiyousei, but she avoided it by turning into the cloud of snowflakes, which then turned back into her as the orb had passed. Instead, the orb of twilight energy hit the steep mast in the distance, causing it to sink a bit deeper into the water, but also to lean more towards the remains of the back of the ship, where Chôzen fought that snake-eyed wannabe-goddess Yasaka. She may have that which makes up a god, but she was nothing compared to Suwako Moriya, who I had a lot more respect for.

"Like I said... What an annoying ability." I growled.

"How did you find out?" smiled Daiyousei innocently, so innocent that it was almost creepy. I huffed in reply and leaned the crescent moon staff against my left shoulder.

"You almost had me... If not for Shinki's comment about her lungs being cold and your comment about snowflakes earlier, I might have not managed to understand it in time. I didn't think you'd be that sneaky... Defeating the enemy from within, where he is the most vulnerable. You're smart, fairy, way smarter than any of your fellow fairies... Smarter than your friend Cirno, or your other friends." I snorted.

"That, I am." was the melodic response, causing me to growl. Great, an overly cheery one. I hate them... I enjoy spending time with people that aren't as happy as that fairy. Our sarcastic and gloomy Gekido, for example... Or our sarcastic, sadistic Yuuka. Or my sarcastic, cleptomaniac disciple Marisa. Heck, even my sarcastic, greedy descendant Reimu!

...Okay, so maybe I just like sarcastic people.

"What causes one who has knowledge to be around those who have not? Is it to shine out? Or to prove that you are better? Maybe it's because you just want other people to compare you to those and see your real knowledge?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Neither of those, Miss Mima Kazami. And please... I am not that smart. I am just as naive as any other fairy..." smiled Daiyousei in return.

"Modest, aren't we? You are the brain behind Cirno. You make an interesting combination... She's the one at the front, and you are the one hiding behind her... You are her puppeteer." I huffed, giving her a look of disbelief.

"I am who I am. I don't try to make myself a better person or something I am not. I am a fairy, a fairy that represents part of nature and will forevermore continue to exist. And I certainly don't manipulate others. Cirno is who she is... She just has that unexplainable urge to defend me, or any of her other friends. So I am certainly not a puppeteer." chuckled Daiyousei, "And, back to your original question: I spend time with Cirno and her friends because they are my friends. I like their honesty, their games and their childishness..." explained the fairy of snowflakes.

"Oh my, do I hear a hint of gloom there?" I asked.

"That, I will not deny. For I am a fairy, a smart one at that, which has come to understand what a silly creature it is. Being around Cirno and her friends, who have found and accepted me, makes me forget this... Makes me enjoy my existence." was Daiyousei's reply, astounding me with it's profundity and hint of gloom.

"I see. Then I will not question that." I huffed, changing back into an offensive stance, "Shall we?"

"Certainly, Miss Mima Kazami."

_"Oh my... Who would've thought that such a silly creature hides behind a mask of shyness and weakness? Or is it a mask? I do believe it is who she is. A silly creature... And a smart one that that."_

The moment that she unleashed a small snowstorm into my direction, I rose my crescent staff and defended myself from the snowflakes and the cold with the warmth of my twilight energy. The sun beneath my feet, the sun seal, had nearly reached the point where I'd gain strength... Strength to defeat both Cirno and Daiyousei, who had remained of their team.

I almost feel bad to hurt such a silly creature, but in the end, she wouldn't mind. She sounded like she knew pain and sorrow... And I knew, that this time, she'd feel neither of them. Because, even though she had not said so, I knew that she'd wait for this tournament to end, so that she could just go back to Misty Lake to enjoy the childishness and easiness of the life of fairies, who had not come to realize what silly beings they were, again.

But until then, she'd back up Cirno the best she could. Because Cirno was her very personal savior, the one who had changed her meaningless life.

The ice fairy had proven another time just how powerful she really was...

Daiyousei, the fairy I had begun to look at in a different way, dissolved into snowflakes which flew into my direction. I put a hand over my mouth and my nose, made sure not to breathe in a single snowflake, well aware what danger this would put me in.

Daiyousei's snowflakes flew past me, then returned into the shape of the fairy. I twirled around and prepared myself for what was to come, only to dodge backwards as she began to shoot different colored bullets all around her in the usual, random patterns.

_"If they'd only have some kind of pattern..."_ I pondered as I used my twilight energy to summon a shield in front of me, _"Then I could avoid them and defeat her with one blow! The sun seal still needs some time... The sun has yet to set."_

"Have some ice flowers, Miss Mima Kazami!" screamed Daiyousei moments before the colorful storm died down and revealed her at it's middle. I narrowed my eyes at her and growled, summoned forth twilight energy and poured it into the crescent moon atop my staff, which immediately began to glow. And even though I aimed at the fairy, I missed, as I had to dodge large amounts of snowflakes that had gathered into large ice flowers, just like she had announced.

The laser that had left the tip of the crescent moon staff instead flew past her, barely even into her direction. In the end, avoiding her attacks was more important than hurting her. Just like I had told Shinki... Even a blunt axe could fell a tree, given that it would strike often enough. And if I wouldn't be careful enough, especially after that attack earlier which had managed to knock out even Shinki, that would happen way sooner than I wanted.

"Every possible affect of snowflakes, huh? Even their constellations..." I snorted and summoned more twilight energy. As soon as the moon was glowing, I slammed the lower end of my staff down onto the ground to my feet, resulting in a large explosion of yellow, orange and black light.

Daiyousei, surprised by this, used her right hand to shield her face while she stumbled backwards in midair. She summoned colorful bullets with her left hand, but as she wasn't seeing a thing, she just threw them around randomly. They bounced into all directions, missed me by far, and allowed me to prepare for a finisher.

The sun beneath my feet had nearly set. It wouldn't do so in time for me to use it against Daiyousei, but at least Cirno would be in for a surprise. If Yuuka had left anything of her, that was.

"You enjoy flowers, right? Here's my favorite kind of flower!" I roared and went in for a swift attack. Swinging my staff, it knocked into the still blinded Daiyousei's stomach and threw her through the entire battlefield.

"Yuuka!" I shouted, attracting the attention of the Flower Youkai. She held Cirno's ice sword back, frowned over her shoulder into my direction, spotted the fairy I had thrown into her direction, and smirked. She pushed Cirno back, then turned on the spot to face my direction.

She reached back, smiled widely, and then took one step forwards while swinging her hand forward in a dangerous and powerful punch. Daiyousei screamed aloud as the punch hit her back, almost making me feel bad for it. Thrown into the other direction by the pure power of the punch, Daiyousei rushed past me, slammed into the remains of the mast and bounced off it, high into the air.

And there, she dissolved into a fine, white dust.

Daiyousei had 'died'. Daiyousei was temporarily dead.

The silly being, and a smart one at that, was defeated.

Maybe that would grant her temporary happiness, at least until everything would be back to the way it used to.

But, no matter if or if not... She sure had a certain amount of strength, her abilities not as weak as they sounded. Then again, Yuuka's ability to manipulate flowers did sound weak as well...

My train of thoughts was interrupted when a loud noise echoed through the air, almost like the ring of a bell. Looking down, I found that the sun beneath my ghost tail had almost completely set. The sunset had begun. Now, for a short period of time, I'd be at my strongest.

Time to end this.

With power pouring into my body, I changed my ghost tail back into a pair of legs and went into a crouched position. Using something I had learned by watching Chôzen's fight earlier, I pushed twilight energy, of which I had plenty right now, into my feet and catapulted myself off the platform I was on.

In midair, I gathered the remaining energy in my feet and aimed at Cirno as I fell towards her. She didn't see me coming, and thus didn't defend herself as my I landed on her. She gasped when my right foot impacted with her face and sent her stumbling back. This made her lower her guard, allowing Yuuka to move in for a punch.

Cirno saw that one coming, however, and quickly summoned a thick wall of ice in between her and us. Yuuka's punch broke through the ice, but not fast enough to hit the fleeing Cirno, who, by the time that we had prepared for another attack, had already repaired the big ice sword in her hands.

"You hurt Dai! Eye'll hurt you! No one picks on Dai while Eye am defending her!" declared the ice fairy, revealing to me that even she could get angry.

"Great. Now you made her mad, Mima." groaned Yuuka, going back into an offensive stance in which she was holding her hands like claws, "Looks like we're gonna be doin' this the hard way after all."

"Don't be so dramatic..." I sighed and readied my crescent staff.

So maybe this wouldn't end just now...

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV_

_~ In the end, even though we hate one another, we care. Music change: __Black Tide - Honest Eyes ~_

"You went overboard there, Kanako!" I snorted in amusement, enjoying the pun. The goddess growled in response and swung a fist at me. I took a step back to avoid the fist and found my back against the wooden railing of the ship. With no space to avoid, I had to lean backwards over the railing to avoid the punch.

Kanako's body pushed against mine when her punch missed, I held onto the wooden railing and rose my legs off the ground to wrap them around the goddesses waist. She gasped, but never even got the chance to free herself. Allowing my weight to pull me over the railing, I pulled Kanako with me, backflipped, and slammed her headfirst into the wall of the ship beneath the railing.

The wood splintered and Kanako cursed, but I knew it wouldn't stop her. With her inside the ship, I pulled myself back on top of the ship, but was careful not to make a noise. After all, Kanako had used noises before to pinpoint my location without seeing me.

Kanako didn't wait for such a thing, though, and merely smashed through the floor at some random location, jumped high into the air above me. I hissed as I saw her falling towards me, crossed my arms in front of my body to shield myself from any attack to come. Negative energy was already flowing through my limbs in great quantities to absorb any kind of attack. Any but the one that came.

Instead of a punch or any kind of other physical attack like that, Kanako reached back with her left hand, but instead of clenching it to a fist, she held it like some kind of spear. And as she swung it down on me, instead of punching me, it 'bit' into my shoulder, sending a sensation of pain through me that could only be described as the pain of being bitten by a snake.

Without a doubt Kanako's famous 'Snake-bite" technique, named for the pain rather than actually being a snake.

The only thing I could do was to snarl in pain as Kanako's hand clenched around my right shoulder, nails digging deep into my flesh. Kanako tackled into me and forced me to take a few steps backwards, which in return gave me the possibility to use the momentum to fall over.

Kanako's fingers left my shoulder the moment that I fell onto my back, and the second that I hit the ground, Kanako had fallen over me and had stumbled into the railing. Pushing myself onto my feet, I enclosed my right, bony hand in emerald flames and lashed out with it. Kanako turned around that moment and blocked my swipe with her lower arm, pushed the dangerous flames out of the way and kneed me in the guts, forcing me to double over.

She grabbed the hair at the back of my head forcefully, slammed my forehead into the railing and then kicked me over it. Unable to grab the railing because of the pain, I found myself falling for a second. My fall was stopped when my right hand curled around the edge of the hole Kanako had created earlier.

I managed to pull myself into the shipwreck, sprinted through the barely lit room and then jumped out of it through the hole that Kanako had made earlier. Repeating her moves, I rose high into the air, then fell towards the goddess with my bony hand prepared for a punch.

It was blocked by Kanako, followed by a punch from her side, which I blocked in return. I landed in front of her on the ground, crouched down and tried to kick her legs away, but she jumped over my foot, placed her feet against my chest and pushed off it, backflipped once and then stopped on her feet in a safe distance to me.

_"She didn't only gain power, but agility... Nice."_

"You won't defeat me as easily again!" shouted Kanako and went into a stance that was neither really a crouch, nor standing, "You always have some kind of ace up your sleeve... This time, I have as well!"

"You mean the hidden onbashira? The powerful laser you could shoot by combining them? Or perhaps that mast? Or are you referring to the fact that you nearly crushed me with a gigantic pillar while I wasn't looking?" I snorted, not even trying to hide my sarcasm.

"Neither of them. It is true that those were aces as well... But this one will do the trick! Have some more hidden onbashira!" laughed the goddess in a mad way, swinging her arms up.

This time, I was unprepared. Not that I had been prepared for anything she had thrown at me so far... Who would have been?

...Sanae. But only because she had already let go of any common sense. She was prepared for anything. Anything but the command 'duck'.(1)

As Kanako had finished, announcing that she had even more hidden onbashira, I began to glare around for any kind of pillar-like structure. This time, though, the onbashira had been hidden very well... Right under everyone's nose, just like the mast.

The water splashed high into the air as twelve onbashira, twelve of those shorter ones that Kanako used to carry on her back, broke through the ice from below. I watched them, the twelve faith pillars that had been hidden under the surface of the water (and ice), in horror.

Four had been bad enough, six had been worse... And this were twelve. Would I have been able to think straight, I would've asked myself how she would command them, seeing that she had used her two hands to command two of them.

But, as I was too stunned by the danger that twelve of them presented, I couldn't think straight, and didn't think about it. It was like staring into the maw of a yawning lion.

As if the new situation wasn't already dangerous enough, the twelve faith pillars slammed into the ceiling above me and, as if Kanako had planned of this through, did break it. A large hole in the ceiling allowed the sun to shine in, allowed the sun to shine down on the icy battlefield... Until dark clouds began to circle in the heaven above the arena, creating a gigantic swirl of blackness.

It merely took a few seconds until the beautiful, clear sky had turned into a dark and gloomy chaos. From sun to rain in a few seconds, from rain to storm in just one... In the matter of a few seconds, Kanako had summoned a storm. And a storm was her element. A storm was what she needed to defeat me.

I had seen the powers of Kanako's storms twenty years ago, when she and Suwako had given a shoulder armor the power of those storms... The shoulder armor I had later used to fight Mima. The shoulder armor that had nearly killed a goddess... Had nearly killed Shinki.

Indeed a divine storm... A storm summoned by a goddess, capable of killing another goddess.

While I was still staring up into the storm above, feeling the soft drizzle upon my skin and my clothes, the twelve faith pillars flew over to Kanako and began to circle around her in a slow and soft rhythm. Thunder rolled through the sky, followed by lightning slashing through the heaven.

This would be one dangerous fight from now on...

My clothes clung to my body, wet by the drizzle. By now, Cirno's ice had finally also lowered the temperature of the air, which had remained relatively warm until now. But now, now I became aware of just how cold the ice beneath us was in addition to the wet rain and the now moist air.

Oh geez, I just hope I won't get a cold from this... That's the last thing I'll need. If I'm up against Mima in the second round of the tournament, a cold would certainly get in my way. I know that Youkai don't get sick as easily as humans or animals do... Doesn't mean we're invincible. I also know that I don't get a cold easily in particular, since my powers make me pretty resistant towards most diseases...

Well, then again, colds are one of the few diseases that always manage to outsmart my resistance...

A sudden, sharp pain pulled me back into reality and I cringed away from Kanako. I hissed in pain and growled, my left, lower arm bleeding furiously the moment that Kanako's fingers left my flesh. Another snake-bite...!

Both Kanako and I immediately took defensive stances, each of us expecting the other one to attack that moment.

I hissed and panted, each breath sharp and through clenched teeth. The pain of a snake biting you is horrible. It stings, it burns, it draws your strength right out of your system...!

"What a good thing you're not a venomous serpent, Orochi...!" I sneered and allowed my defensive stance to shift into a slightly more comfortable one, my right hand now on the wound Kanako had just created.

"Not? Guess I have to put more venom into my actions then!" snorted the goddess in return, not referring to the deadly kind of toxin, of course.

"Tch. Yeah. Whatever." I replied dryly, the emerald flames around my hands flaring up. It was time to put as much power as I possessed into them to defeat the goddess once and for all!

...Still, those twelve onbashira seemed rather intimidating. And I had yet to find out how many of them she could use as a weapon at the same time.

"What is that? Chôzen Gekido, great savior of Gensokyo... scared?" chuckled Kanako and stopped another train of thought that was about to start, "Then let me calm you down a little... Twelve onbashira is the most that I can wield at the same time. Just one more and a single distraction would cause me to accidentally drop a few... And, well, if I use more than twelve, I cannot use one specific at a time to attack."

_"Great. At least she answered my question as to how many she can wield at the same time... And what kind of fighting style she prefers. One at a time... That could mean I am not as lost as I thought."_

"Oh, how very reassuring." I snorted and watched the twelve onbashira carefully. Not careful enough, as I soon had to learn.

"W-wait!" I gasped and examined them one after another, "That's only eleven! Where's the last?!"

"Right under your nose!" laughed Kanako and swung her right hand up, "QUITE LITERALLY!"

The planks beneath my feet shattered and the missing onbashira knocked into my torso, which I had exposed the moment I had leaned forward to look at the floor. All air was pushed out of my lungs as I ascended high into the air, the onbashira pushing against my stomach and my lower chest.

I turned my head, had to use all my strength for that. Wind was blowing into my face, the clouds were coming closer and closer... I was nearing Kanako's very element!

Looking down again, I tried to get away from the onbashira, but it was moving too fast, making it impossible for me to move. Beneath me, the arena started to glow in the colors of twilight, something that I immediately connected to Mima. But she was not what I should be worried about...!

_"Alastor...!"_

The blade of guilt appeared within my left hand when I mentally begged for it to appear. I immediately stabbed the blade into the side of the log, growled aloud and then pulled myself with one hand towards the blade. And indeed managed to pull myself off the onbashira.

Gravity immediately affected me. I began to fall, twirl around. I soon lost control of what was up and what down... But for a moment, I managed to spot that onbashira I had been on, which was still ascending towards the storm above. And, just before it hit the clouds, a bolt of lightning struck down and hit the top of the onbashira, setting it ablaze.

What a good thing I hadn't been there anymore. Kanako Fried Chôzen didn't sound tasty at all...

Dismissing Alastor and extending both arms and legs, I used them to regain balance. The world stopped spinning just as I entered the arena through the large hole in the roof. I frontflipped, then finally landed in a crouched position in front of Kanako, surprising her. She must have expected me to be fried by her bolt of lightning... Too bad that I had already managed to get off it.

Hearing a loud crash behind me, I knew that the remains of the onbashira had just landed. Following Kanako's gaze past me, I too examined the burning remains of the onbashira that had been struck by lightning. It stuck out of the water next to the mast, the side that was non-submerged still burning. It wouldn't for long, though, seeing as the log that the onbashira was consisting of slowly absorbing the water, like any kind of wood.

"You shocked me there, Kanako. Nearly, I mean." I taunted as I turned back to the goddess, "Didn't you say venom? You do know that lightning is not poisonous, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, really funny, Chôzen Gekido. Looks like the joke is on me, seeing as you shocked me rather than the intended other way around. But I'm not done yet. I'm full of crushing enthusiasm!" replied Kanako sharply. I knew that this was supposed to be a pun, and a pun it was.

She kept moving her left hand in a small circle while she swung her right hand down. Immediately, one of the eleven remaining onbashira stopped orbiting around her and flew into my direction, preparing to squish me. I dodged it by jumping backwards, the onbashira only slamming into the wooden floor, creating another hole in it.

**"Hey, it's me. Thought I make an appearance again."**

_"So not the time for your jokes, Insanity!"_

**"Well, then I just leave again... Without telling you what I know about Kanako."**

_"I'm all ears."_

**"Yeah, I bet. Once it's about a feisty girl, you're listening."**

_"Insanity..."_

**"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Now, do you see the movement of her left hand? You know, the little circle she keeps on drawing with it?"**

_"Oh, I didn't know it's time for riddles again. Let's see, I think I'll phone a friend and..."_

**"Do I have to spell out everything? Work with me, goddamn it!"**

_"That's my line. Work with me!"_

**"Alright... Alright! Now, do you remember when she used six onbashira...? You know, four on her back and two with her hands? Her tactic hasn't changed."**

I jumped out of the way of the onbashira as it tried to slam down on me, always keeping an eye on the movements of Kanako's right hand. It was the only kind of warning I had... There was a short delay between her command with her right hand and the movement of the onbashira.

_"What are you talking about?! Of course it has! In case you didn't notice... She now commands eleven onbashira. At once. Without any on her back!"_

**"You moron! Do I really have to spell it out?! Of course it is the same tactic! She merely changed how many onbashira she commands at the same time! Just think about it for once!"**

The onbashira came towards me again, this time in a horizontal arc. I barely managed to backflip out of the way, the single desire of my skull not being ripped off my shoulders continuing to push me to my limits. Panic was flooding my system, adrenaline flowing through my veins in large quantities.

_"Spell it out, please!"_

**"It's the same tactic, the very same! Instead of commanding one onbashira with each hand, she merely commands specific ones with her right, in this case the one about to chop your head off, and keeps the others in midair with her left! The motion she makes with her left hand is always a circle to keep the other ten onbashira orbiting around her!"**

_"Was that so damn hard?! Why didn't you just say that interrupting the steady motions of her left hand would stop the ten onbashira?! So that's why she mentioned that she had to concentrate on them all the time...!"_

_**"You just have to stop the motions of her left hand."**_

_"You stay out of this!"_

**"You stay out of this!"**

Insanity was right, I saw it now. Kanako kept moving her left hand in a circle, and the onbashira orbiting around her were following the command of that hand. If I had to guess how it worked, I'd say that Kanako was focusing on those ten onbashira, while having decided on one 'leader', the onbashira that was following the motions of her left hand, with the others following that onbashira. And all while she also focused on the single onbashira, thus the limit of twelve onbashira in total.

I have to say... I'm impressed. I am able to multitask and have done so several times, but I'd never be able to focus on twelve things at once, and all while making them do separate things. Then again, if she was using the whole 'leader' concept for her left hand and the respective onbashira, it would make things easier, as she only would have to make two onbashira do different things. But she'd still have to focus on all twelve.

Well... Doesn't matter. I'd still stop it.

Negative energy was unleashed through my feet, the small explosions beneath my feet propelling me through the air. Kanako was prepared for such a thing, though, and stopped the movements of her left hand to cross her arms in front of her body. The eleven onbashira immediately hovered back over to her and created a solid wall in between me and the goddess.

I snarled and stopped my assault, dropped to the ground in front of the wall. I was unsure how to react to this, seeing no way to get through to Kanako. Other than mindlessly slashing my way through.

God, that would be something Insanity would do... And, since there seemed to be no other way...

Alastor appeared within my left hand. I pushed myself off the ground and swung the blade horizontally, my intention that of slicing through all of the onbashira at once.

I should've been more careful... Or rather, should've thought things through. Of course, Kanako had prepared for such a thing as well... Another ace up her sleeve.

Damn it.

The moment that Alastor made contact with the first onbashira, Kanako let out a shout of utter triumph. And instead of cutting through the onbashira, Alastor's sharp edge just bounced off it and send me stumbling backwards... A thin, blue barrier surrounded all of the eleven onbashira before me. And it died down the moment that Kanako had made sure that I saw it.

"Did you really think I'd allow you to destroy more of my onbashira? I've only been playing with you until now, Gekido! I allowed you to destroy all of my other onbashira until now to make you believe you'd have the advantage!" laughed the mad goddess behind the wall of onbashira, just before it split apart to become the eleven onbashira again.

While Kanako did allow me to regain balance, she still mocked me as she began the movements of her left hand again, ten of the eleven onbashira immediately orbiting around her again while the eleventh flew at the side. For a short moment, they continued to do so, but changed their movements as Kanako changed that of her left hand.

Instead of orbiting around her, the onbashira turned so that they were parallel to the ground, and flew in a vertical circle in front of Kanako, with her looking through the circle at me. And, no matter for what reason she had done this... It couldn't be good. Not at all.

Kanako was about to say something, probably was going to be just another taunt, but I didn't give her the chance. While Alastor still rested within my left hand and distracted her that way, I used my right hand to gather negative energy into an orb of emerald flames.

Pushing my hand forth after hiding it until then, I hoped that Kanako would get caught off guard. Sadly, the goddess reacted quickly, way too quick. The circle of onbashira closed all of sudden when the onbashira moved in their position, absorbing the force of the attack. And even worse, the moment that the circle opened again, Kanako had already prepared to attack.

The eleventh onbashira, until then hidden by the other then, flew into my direction and hit me square in the chest, caught me completely off guard. I refused to be beaten like that, though, and fought against the onbashira... The result was that I merely sled over the ground, rather than being slammed into the next side of the barrier.

I eventually stopped, my arms laid around the onbashira. Alastor was dangling on it's chains from my left wrist, gently shaking, ever so often touching my left leg.

"Too bad, Kanako..." I growled and concentrated all of my strength, "That I won't give up just now as well!"

My arms lit up in emerald flames, bright emerald flames. I let out a roar, a war cry. The onbashira in my embrace was immediately enclosed by the thin barrier of blue, but it didn't work this time. My emerald flames merely burnt through it, showing once more how powerful the ability to negate was...

Both Kanako and I remained like that until my burning arms had burnt through the shield and the onbashira, rendering it useless. It fell to the ground in front of me in two halves, which I then gently kicked aside.

Ten onbashira left, and then there were none. (2)

"I won't give up now, Kanako... I'm having too much fun here! You keep on cornering me... You're pushing me to my limits! You constantly force me to overcome them, you force me to adjust to your fighting style! And I just love it! Oh, how I missed your stubbornness, your need to overcome me... Our rivalry will truly remain my first and greatest one!" escaped my mouth before I managed to stop myself.

Oh, I had gone bonkers again. The adrenaline was turning me into a fight-addicted maniac again... How weird that it only happened when it came to my greatest rivalries... Kanako, Rumia, Yukari and Mima... Possibly Alice, but then again, I had never fought her for real...

"How fortunate. I'm feeling the same way." replied Kanako in a voice that matched mine in terms of madness. She too must have fallen victim to this rush of adrenaline, this excitement, the grudge...

One of us was doomed to be hurt as the outcome of this battle, and while neither of us wanted to be that one, we both probably didn't care at all... We, or at least I only wanted to fight her. I wanted more adrenaline, wanted more pain and more destruction.

Kanako truly always manages to bring out the worst in me. In a different way than Alice, but equal to that one.

"Fortunate indeed. Then let us enjoy my victory." I chuckled and let the flames around my arms flare up.

"And what makes you think that you'll win? As far as I know, I've kicked your butt around until now!" snorted Kanako in return.

"About that... You know that Yukari'll kill us for the damages we have caused, right? Just think what that'll cost... A fortune."

"Oh, I know that she won't be happy. But she should be thanking us. We're making this interesting." snickered the goddess, took a step back, and then narrowed her eyes at me,"Oh, and about your victory... I don't think you'll win. But don't worry... I'll give your over-confidence a backwards thrust!"

And a thrust she gave me. Only wasn't that a backwards thrust like she had announced, but an onbashira that she thrusted forward, forward into my direction. It broke out of the circle of onbashira and flew into my direction at great speed, forcing me to avoid it.

It broke through the ground instead, vanished from my sight, something that forced me to continue running. After all, nothing good had happened until now whenever one of the onbashira had been gone from my sight. And indeed, the onbashira did break through the ground just behind me, nearly throwing me off balance. It returned to Kanako, became part of the circle of onbashira again.

So that was how she'd use them.

Kanako continued to glare at me, kept her eyes upon me. She continued to turn into my direction, the circle of onbashira always in front of her, between us. She pushed a hand forward, hit another of the onbashira, and thrusted it into my direction. With a jump, I managed to avoid it, then had to stop as another onbashira flew past me.

Kanako was serious now. She thrusted one onbashira after another into my direction, and I had to keep running, had to stop, then run or jump again. That wouldn't have been much of a problem if Kanako would have only ten onbashira available... Well, she had, but by the time that the tenth onbashira was thrusted into my direction, the first had already returned to her and allowed her to continue the attacks.

But, as Insanity's words continued to echo around in my head, I kept an eye on Kanako's hands. And, just as Insanity had told me, her left hand continued to make small circles to keep the onbashira in front of her, while she used her right hand to thrust them at me.

It was still the same pattern. She still used her left hand to command the onbashira, while she used her right hand to control a specific one, always the one she attacked me with.

I smell an interesting weakness there...

Changing my path, I still continued to run in a circle around Kanako... With the slight difference that I was slowly but surely making smaller circles around her, closing in on her. This also meant that I was continually increasing the chance to be hit... A smaller distance between me and Kanako meant that I was also closer to the circle of onbashira and thus in greater danger of being hit and hurt.

That was until I spotted the opening. The time between the tenth and the first onbashira was greater than that between the other ones... And that was all I needed. Just one second more than that.

My path changed. Instead of circling around Kanako, I rushed directly at her. She had continually turned with me, had always kept her front towards me, and thus the position where the circle of onbashira gathered in between us. I was kind of surprised that Kanako hadn't gotten dizzy from all the spinning due to keeping her front towards me, but didn't think about it.

Kanako gasped aloud when I charged directly at her, especially considering that she didn't have a single onbashira to defend herself with. And so, I had a clear shot. I reached back, my bony fist still shrouded in emerald flames... Until I then swung my fist forward, the flames immediately gone.

My hand hit it's goal. Kanako gasped... Not in pain, but surprise.

I hadn't punched her, hadn't even hurt her. Instead, my bony hand had laid around her left hand... Held it in place.

The entire back of the ship, the part that we stood and fought on, shook violently as nine, heavy logs impacted with it.

Without Kanako moving her hand, they were useless. And, since my proximity to her and my action had also broken her concentration, she couldn't hold all of the onbashira in the air. They had stopped in their movements, their action of returning to Kanako, and fell onto the remains of the ship that we were on, then rolled off it due to it's steep position. I heard how they hit the ice and broke through it, heard how the thick layer of ice was broken and returned to being the surface of water.

"You shouldn't have told me, Orochi... You shouldn't have told me that you would not be able to keep all of them under control if you couldn't concentrate." I breathed, an evil grin spreading across my lips. But Orochi, Kanako, showed exactly the same smirk. Sure, she was blushing a little, possibly because I was holding her left hand...

In the end, we both knew of our attraction towards each other. And also, close proximity always forced me to think of that one day when everyone had his interests manipulated... Kanako had been interested in me. And because that added to her attraction to me and her ferocity when it came to it, which in return also added to my attraction.. We had almost ended up doing something we shouldn't have done. We had almost given into our wicked desires.

I knew that this close proximity must have forced her to think of then as well. I knew that she could remember what we had nearly done, despite her not being herself back then... Everyone who had been under the influence of Kyômi, the interest-manipulating Doll Youkai, could remember what they had done...

But still... It didn't explain why she was smirking.

"Maybe that had been my mistake... Maybe these had been my words. But remember what I told you... I told you that I wouldn't be able to manipulate more onbashira at the same time if I couldn't concentrate. I told you that my concentration only sufficed for twelve in total..." breathed the goddess.

It didn't take me long to figure out what she was trying to tell me. Especially, considering that she was moving her right hand towards herself right at that moment.

More onbashira. The hidden meaning lay in these two words. More onbashira than what?

The answer: More than one. She needed to concentrate on moving more than one!

Without letting go of Kanako's left hand, I turned around and lashed out with my left hand, enclosed in emerald flames. It cut through the last onbashira, the one that had just tried to hit me, and turned it into two halves. They fell to the ground on each side of me and Kanako, then rolled down the ship.

Kanako did not have any onbashira left.

It was silent, only the rain from above pouring down on me and Kanako and the rest of the battlefield. Thunder rolled across the sky, lightning flashed. I had won.

Had I?

Slowly, I turned back to Kanako, who stared at me with wide eyes. And slowly, a smirk began to find it's way onto my face.

I had won. I had...

No, I had not... Kanako had begun to smirk. Smirk at me like mad. I had beaten her onbashira, but she STILL had an ace up her sleeve. She still was under the impression that she would be able to defeat me. It was something big. It was something she had prepared under everyone's nose again. Perhaps another onbashira... No, this was something way bigger. Something way more dangerous.

I could read all that in her expression, could see all that just by seeing her mad smirk.

"What is it?" I inquired and narrowed my eyes on her, my smirk slowly replaced by a glare.

"What is what?" asked Kanako right back, way too cheery for someone who had just nearly lost her fight, the one that she had prepared herself twenty years for.

"You still have an ace up your sleeve. You still have something left... What is it?" I growled.

"Funny that you ask. I thought you would have figured it out by now... I mean, it's all around you. Ever since I destroyed the roof, in fact." whispered Kanako, madness making it's way onto her face.

Slowly, I averted my gaze from hers, began to glance left and right carefully. I felt like something was going to jump at me any second now...

But there was nothing. I couldn't see anything. We were still on the battlefield, the ship broken into three parts. Mima and Yuuka were fighting Cirno at the front part of the ship. A little surprising that they still hadn't defeated Cirno yet... I guess Yukari really messed with the boundary of Cirno's powers. Sure, Mima still didn't seem to be serious, and Yuuka was held back by Mima...

But still, something was wrong. Especially considering that Mima had done something to the battlefield... How else would someone be able to explain the twilight that the battlefield was bathed in? It's source was a gigantic setting sun on the middle part of the ship...

But that was not what Kanako was referring to. What had changed since she had shattered the roof? Nothing.

I glanced back to Kanako. She was still smirking at me... She hadn't done a thing since I had averted my gaze. She was waiting. Was waiting for me to realize whatever she had prepared under my nose.

_**"Let's go through it again, step for step..."**_

_"Alright..."_

_**"She summoned the twelve pillars, which shattered the roof... Through that, we saw how she summoned a storm... And then, she used one to throw you into it, tried to fry you alive."**_

_"Yeah... But it cannot be the twelve onbashira, we destroyed them... Or rather, one has burnt to ashes, one was cut apart, and ten of them are now deep beneath us in the body of water..."_

**"Oh shit, I think I got it!"**

_"Insanity?"_

**"DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN! She was right, it's all around you! She goddamn used the fact that it's something so natural that you don't take notice of it!"**

_"What? What? Something so natural that you... Don't take notice of it?"_

I glared around again, now in panic. Whatever it was, it caused even Insanity to go into panic. But, just like always, he refused to say whatever it was and was talking in riddles. He always did that when I least needed him to! Natural... natural?!

Ship?! Not natural enough! Body of water? No, not Kanako's element! Ice? No, that's Cirno...! What was so natural that I didn't...?!

My eyes went wide as realization washed over me, hit me like a train into the face. Oh shit, why hadn't I noticed it sooner?! Why hadn't I noticed that Kanako had given herself a gigantic advantage, one that even I would not overcome in this quantity?!

Rain.

It was rain.

Ever since Kanako had shattered the roof and had summoned a storm, it was raining. A thin layer of rain had gathered on the ice, had mingled with the body of water through the holes in the ice that the falling onbashira had caused.

The entire battlefield was covered in rainwater. The wood had absorbed it. The ice had. My clothes had. I had rainwater on my skin. Kanako would be able to manipulate everything!

"Ah, you realized!" laughed Kanako, causing me to snap my head into her direction. I stared in shock, fear, disbelief at Kanako... And she just smirked. Did nothing but smirk.

"Oh, don't worry. I see that you realized just how much power I would have right now... But I tell you what: Since this is our first fight in twenty years, I give you something very special!" breathed the goddess as she leaned closer. She yanked her left hand out of my grip, took two steps back at once and pushed herself off the ground.

Now in midair, she pulled all of her limbs in and began to laugh in a mad voice.

"Do you remember our grandmaster's pets? Grandmaster Suwako used to have some pets, and they are still around, protecting the Moriya Shrine, even in the present days... It was our first trial to defeat them back then. We wouldn't have made it without each other... To believe that we fought together so well back then, despite not knowing each other..." chuckled Kanako and smiled almost gently.

"I remember... Suwako's pets share a trait with you that I cannot forget. They are snakes." I murmured in return.

"Correct. Suwako's pets, the curse gods, Mishaguji...They are still listening to her command. She was the only one ever able to tame them." smiled Kanako.

"Why are you bringing that up now?!" I growled and narrowed my eyes at her.

"Ah... I just want to talk about snakes. After all... Aren't we snakes as well? You... Mima... I... The Mishaguji... We are all snakes, but in different aspects. The Mishaguji have the shape of snakes... I am a goddess that represents snakes... But you, Mima and also I... We are also snakes in the grass. We deceive those around us... We deceive, we belie... We are snakes in the grass, Chôzen." continued Kanako, using my first name rather than my full name...

"Vipera in verpecula est, Chôzen!" (3) roared Kanako and extended her limbs in one fluid motion. Immediately, an orb of a thin blue color surrounded her. I never should know the meaning of her words, which were obviously Latin, as the effect of whatever she had done immediately took effect.

At first, it was barely noticeable, but within the matter of a few seconds, it picked up. The remains of the ship, all three parts of it, began to shake violently, as did the remains of the mast. The sound of water moving reached my ears. And it got louder. And louder. And as it did, the part of the ship that I stood on began to shake more violently.

I began to curse under my breath as I spotted it, a large vortex in the water behind Kanako. But not one that went down in the water, but out of it. And it continued to grow as it absorbed large quantities of water... Of rainwater. Kanako was doing something to the rainwater all around me. And not only around me.

Imagine my shock as my clothes, despite the rain that was still pouring down on me, slowly began to become dry, lost weight and also got warmer... And the rainwater, which had created small pearls on my skin, also sled down my skin at surprising speed.

The entire water on my body moved over my feet into the wood beneath them, which also became a lighter shade again, meaning that the water was drained from it. Even the rain all around me stopped falling straight down and instead changed it's direction so that it fell towards the reversed vortex.

And this vortex grew. It increased in height, but not in width, eventually turning into a gigantic tunnel that was as wide as I could extend my arms. This tunnel eventually parted into eight tunnels of the same size... And they each had a head. A snake head.

"Hey, do you remember the nickname you gave me long ago? The one you still use today? Orochi? You based that on Yamata no Orochi, the eight-headed snake-dragon, because you saw a snake in me... Because I am a snake. Anyways... I thought it would be ironic justice to have Orochi defeat you... So here he is." giggled Kanako, her thoughtful expression turning into a mocking smile at the end.

In front of me was a gigantic beast made of rainwater with eight snake heads. This was Yamata no Orochi... Not the real one, but one that Kanako had created from rainwater. This was the beast, the Orochi, that was supposed to beat me. It let out a roar that shook the earth, it's heads lined up above each other and it glared down at me.

The orb around Kanako vanished and she landed on the ground in front of me, her eyes focused on me. A mad smirk was gracing her features, and her eyes had become more slit-like... More like those of a snake.

Kanako was right... She was a snake. But so was I.

"I've got you this time, Gekido!" roared Kanako as she suddenly swung one hand forward. The rainwater Orochi responded to that, let out another furious roar. The ice around us shattered as the roar echoed through the battlefield, large waves moved over the entire body of water and shook the remains of the ship...

And the mast.

And that mast, the large faith pillar from earlier, decided that it had enough.

The moment that Yamata no Orochi lashed out with all of it's heads, the moment that I pointed Alastor at it, the moment that the mast, Kanako, the heads of the Yamata no Orochi and I were in a perfect line...

Well, it was that moment that the mast, after being shaken so often before... Well, let's put it like it was.

I first noticed how Yamata no Orochi stopped and looked at some point that was behind me and a little above me, all of it's heads sharing one expression... One that practically screamed "Oh shit!".

Kanako, much like Orochi, was suddenly looking past me... This caused me to frown at them. Confused as by what would cause such a reaction from them, I was about to turn around, when I noticed a shadow beneath my feet, a large and long one that continually grew in size. Usually, that would mean that the owner of this shadow was coming closer...

Slowly, I turned around and was about to ask Kanako what had shocked her so much... Until I saw it as well. Too late, unfortunately.

It was the mast. The mast that had decided that falling over right now was the best option.

Neither I, nor Kanako or the rainwater version of Yamata no Orochi, managed to get out of the way.

The last thing I remembered, before everything went black... Was how Yamata no Orochi was ripped apart into tiny drops of rainwater as the mast slammed through all eight heads; how Kanako began to growl loudly... And how I screamed like a sissy little girl.

Oh, and for a slight second, I felt how my bones were shattered as the heavy mast buried me and Kanako underneath it.

In the end, our first fight in twenty years should end in the most stupid and shameful draw I had ever seen and experienced...

* * *

_Yuuka's PoV_

_~ Music change__: UVERWorld - D-tecnolife_

Hearing that idiot Chôzen scream like a little girl, I frowned and glanced over my shoulder for a second. This allowed me to see that the mast had fallen over and had ripped straight through that eight-headed snake that Kanako had summoned, as well as the back of the ship.

I narrowed my eyes at the mast that now lay in the remains of the back of the ship, and silently wondered where that idiot Chôzen and that mad Yasaka had vanished off to... That was, until I spotted the arm and the leg that protruded from underneath the pillar. Since the hand attached to that arm did consist of nothing but black bones, and the fact that this hand wasn't moving at all, it was obvious that Chôzen was buried beneath the mast...

Well, and if that rope circle was still attached to Yasaka, she was underneath there as well, not too far from him.

With a snort of amusement, I turned away and focused back on Cirno, who had been fighting against Mima for the few seconds I had looked away. Served Chôzen and that goddess right... Who did they think they were, barging into the battlefield like that and making our fight harder than it was supposed to?!

To be honest, I blame them for the fact that we hadn't won yet... They hadn't made anything better when they destroyed the ship in their foolishness. I know that Yukari is to blame as well, Cirno wasn't acting anything like one would expect her to. She was way too powerful today... I'd give that gap hag a piece of my mind later on. She'd still be in the medical wing... Ironically, where Chôzen would end up again as well, from what I could see. Stupid him. But that makes everything easier. He's going to get a piece of my mind as well...!

Apropos blaming him and Yasaka... I'm blaming them for the fact that Shinki is out cold as well, no pun intended. I still wonder how, though... The only possible explanation I can come up with is that she got in the way of one attack of either Kanako or Chôzen... There's no way that Daiyousei, or even Letty, knocked her out... But time to find out, I guess.

"Mima!" I called out as I joined the fight again, jumped in between her and Cirno. The ice fairy blocked the swipe of my parasol with her ice sword, then let out a huff and quickly flew away from me in order to get some distance between us. She isn't as naive as people say her to be... She's smart enough to realize that I am lethal at close range.

"What's it?" inquired my wife and quickly moved to my right, her crescent staff leaned onto her right shoulder and her gaze still resting on Cirno.

"How's Shinki...? And mind sharing with me how the hell she managed to get knocked out? Is she as much of an airhead as she sometimes makes to believe, after all? There's no way that..." I began, only to be interrupted by Mima.

"She should be alright by now... Daiyousei defeated her. That fairy got an annoying skill, if you ask me." snorted Mima, her gaze shifting to me for a second. And it was that second that I saw that her irises weren't green like usual, but glowing yellow to orange in addition to black... Twilight energy was flowing through them.

So that was the purpose of that gigantic sun sign. She was causing an artificial sunset to give a boost to her powers... How did she even come up with such a thing? It's too simple to be her design... I know how complex her thoughts, and thus her ideas, are...

...Is that the design of Abendsonne? Could it be that he came up with this kind of spell? That was what he had done twenty years ago when he had worked with Mima... He had created a sunset that had lasted as long as Mima could fight... A sunset that had increased her powers...

"Daiyousei? What kind of skill are we talking about?" I huffed, turning my attention back to Cirno. She wasn't completely unscathed, some of my and Mima's attacks had hit her. Furthermore, she was apparently out of stamina... She was panting like mad as she tried to recover and gather what little strength she seemed to have left.

"Dissolving into snowflakes. Shinki breathed some in... Daiyousei, once in Shinki's body, targeted vital spots and cooled them down to the point where they stop working correctly. Shinki is going to be fine, she's a tough one and a goddess at that... Still, I think she'll get hypothermia. Daiyousei did cool her lungs down quite a lot... I experienced myself just how much pain that can cause, believe me." growled Mima in return, surprising me.

"Oh my... Didn't think Daiyousei held such a hidden power within her." I sighed, then rolled my shoulders. I guess fighting these weaklings, even if they weren't as weak (due to Yukari's meddling, as far as I can see!), is a good warm-up for the fight we were going to have next... Against Chôzen, Nanatsu and Rumia.

"There's some more things you wouldn't think about her... For she is a silly being, and a smart one at that." whispered Mima in a mysterious voice that I couldn't help but frown at.

"Care to explain?" I asked, but Mima merely shook her head, a soft smile gracing her features as she did so.

"Not now. Another time." was all that Mima replied, before she suddenly charged at Cirno again with great speed. And yet the ice fairy managed to react in time, raising her sword to block the dangerous swing of Mima's crescent staff. Metal met ice, sparks were created as the sharp side of the sword sled along the metal. And, when neither of them pulled back, I saw my chance.

I made a jump towards Cirno, parasol in hand. The ice fairy saw me coming and let go of the ice sword's hilt with one hand. She pointed that hand at me, which generated a gigantic wall of ice in between us. Nothing that I would not be able to break through, though.

The parasol shattered through the ice like it was glass, shards of ice were flying everywhere. Cirno let out a small growl, obviously feeling cornered. She pushed away from Mima to avoid my attack from above, then summoned a large club of ice above her head.

"Hmpfh." I heard Mima, right before she swung the crescent staff up, just as the club of ice came down on us. It rained shards of ice onto me seconds later, implying that Mima had just destroyed the club. This was a sign that it was time for me to take over again, so I rose from my crouched position and readied my parasol again.

I swung it like a hammer at the ice fairy, and Cirno saw no other choice but to block my attack with her ice sword... Which of course did not survive the power of my attack. It shattered upon the impact of the parasol, which didn't decrease the strength of my attack at all.

The parasol knocked into the side of Cirno's head and sent her flying. She impacted with the railing of the ship and broke through it, bounced high into the air and then... Threw a sharp piece of ice into our direction. My smirk turned into a shocked frown, I rose my hands and destroyed the piece of ice with my parasol.

"Now that is out of the ordinary. No fairy has ever managed to survive one of my physical attacks..." I murmured while preparing energy for something that was more my style.

"I told you, Cirno is no ordinary fairy." huffed Mima, "But I see what you mean, and have to agree. And I think we are thinking of the same person here... Yakumo."

"Who else? I bet she manipulated Cirno's strength so that she'd be able to stand her ground against us... I'm not trying to make Cirno weaker than she is, and I bet she trained a lot for this tournament, but this is just too much power." I agreed.

"Do you think that this is Yakumo's revenge on me for calling her 'old gap hag' last week?" asked Mima as we waited for Cirno to recover. It would only be half as much fun if Cirno wasn't trying... Wasn't struggling.

I'm not trying to say that what we had done twenty years ago was right, but I do have to admit that it was fun to see how everyone struggled, how everyone fought against us... Especially Chôzen. We practically tormented him... We did torment him. And I'm kind of sorry for that. But it still had been too much fun for an old sadist like me... He was just that kind of person that was my favorite victim.

"I think it's rather that you called her 'an obsolete, frustrated granny that went and screwed the living lights out of your greedy descendant' yesterday than 'old gap hag' that caused her to do such a thing like this..." I snorted, remembering the dispute between Yukari and Mima.

It certainly didn't help that the two of them had such different views on things, in addition to the distrust that had build up twenty years ago... They were always fighting about things, were calling each other names and tried to badmouth each other... They only got along when it was about booze. Sometimes, I can't believe how alcohol manages to bring people together... But then again, I'm not an Oni, like Suika, and I am not that fond of booze, so I might never understand it.

Apropos Oni... I'd love to fight that Yuugi Hoshiguma one day. They say she's the strongest of the underground in terms of physical strength... Some even say that it rivals my strength. Now that is something I'd like to see for my own...

"I was just joking around yesterday!" pouted Mima, "I mean, I ran in on her and Reimu... And Reimu is the most greedy person I know... And Yukari is old, even older than me... And she..."

"Stop ranting, Mima. We've got a fight to finish..." I interrupted her, "...And an ice fairy to squish!"

I unleashed the power I had gathered in shape of a Master Spark, aimed directly at Cirno. The ice fairy, which had still not recovered (I know it was more fun if they were struggling, but this was taking too long!), could only gasp. Like before, she summoned a wall of ice in front of her. One that actually managed to absorb the full impact of my Master Spark.

So Yukari DID mess with her strength!

But if that was the case, then all that Cirno had was more power... And, it's like they say: Fight fire with fire... Only is it power with power this time. So I just unleashed more power, this time in a much different shape.

A second Master Spark ripped through the air, shook the entire front of the ship. The water beneath us was pushed away by the raw force that these two sparks presented, Cirno began to scream as she did her best to hold the barrier of ice up. She was giving all of her power, and I only would have to push her a little further.

But that would be no fun.

No. Let's push it way further!

I shared a short glance with the perfect copy of me to my left. She looked so much like me that it sometimes scared me... Only that she looked like me back then. She wore red plaid pants and a waistcoat of the same color and pattern over a plain white shirt. Also, her hair was long. She was me from back then... The flower that had yet to bloom.

Turning to Mima, I smirked.

"Mima, would you please lend me a hand?" I smiled.

"I don't have a hand to lend to you..." smirked Mima back, just before her legs turned into her ghost tail and she moved to fly right above me and my double, "But a spark!"

Black lightning with yellow to orange edges burst forth from the crescent moon atop Mima's staff. It curled around itself and created something that didn't look like a laser but several sharp and angular lines... It was more of a spark than the Master or the Double Spark. That spark, a spark Mima had dubbed the 'eclipse spark' due to it's mostly black color, cut through the air in between the rainbow color of the two Master Sparks.

The clear opposites in color of the Eclipse Spark and the Master Spark began to melt into one another, the Eclipse Spark lashed out and curled around each of the two Master Sparks.

And the only thing that I could hear above the loud roaring of the three sparks was how ice shattered... And how Cirno began to scream.

And then, as the sparks finally died down, there was nothing left in sight. The sparks had obliterated everything in their path. Only the barrier of Yasaka had stopped them... And even it looked pretty weak at the spot where the three sparks had impacted with it. A few seconds more and we would've shattered it. Especially considering that Kanako Yasaka was in any state but able to replenish it's power.

When the barrier suddenly vanished, the loud cheering of the audience finally reached my ears. We had won.

I hope you choke on that, Yakumo. We won, despite your meddling with Cirno's powers.

_~ Music fades out ~_

"With that, Mima's team won! Letty is out cold, and Daiyousei and Cirno have both been disintegrated! Of course, we are awaiting their return dearly... We should give them a few hours." chuckled Aya Shameimaru loudly.

"Yeah. Good thing that this was today's last fight, I guess... Just look at the state of tha' battlefield! I tell ya, both Chôz'n and Yasaka, as well as Mima's and Cirno's teams went a little too far there!" sniggered that barkeeper, slamming the flask in his hand onto the table as he broke into a fit of laughter.

I took a glance over my shoulder and observed the damages. Indeed, the battlefield was in a pretty worse state... The ship had broken apart, half of the water was still frozen, shards of ice were laying around everywhere and parts of onbashira were floating on the water... And then, there was the heavy mast that Chôzen and Kanako were buried underneath...

"My turn!" yelled a suggestive voice, followed by that succubus-girl with the terraforming abilities flying past me, Mima and my clone. I shared a last glance with the replica of me, then flicked my fingers and let it dissolve into some colorful petals. At the same time, the succubus-girl rose both of her hands above her head, then slammed them down onto the remains of the middle part of the ship, where Mima's seal of the setting sun had been earlier.

A gigantic white rune spread across it for a few seconds, then vanished. And as soon as it had done, the battlefield began to revert into it's original state. The water and the ice turned back into the stone platform that the battlefield had originally been, the ship began to sink into it as if it had never been.

In the end, only the remains of Yasaka's onbashira, Letty Whiterock, Shinki,Yasaka herself and Chôzen remained, lying in the middle of the battlefield. Neither of them was moving. They were knocked out... Serves them right.

I let out a groan and rolled my shoulders, patted Mima onto the shoulder, and then walked over to where Shinki and Letty lay. Bowing down, I threw the Youkai of Winter over my right shoulder, then picked up the goddess and carried her under my arm.

"Let's go, Mima. We're done here!" I called out, and the evil spirit smirked.

"What about Yasaka and Chôzen?" she inquired, but I just shook my head.

"Leave them be. They'll wake up eventually... It only serves them right if we leave them like that." I chuckled.

"But..." began Mima, but I shook my head again and stopped to sent Mima a... 'suggestive' glance.

"Come now. It's time to... 'celebrate' our victory." I giggled, making sure to put a certain undertone into the word 'celebrate', even though I actually wasn't intending to celebrate anything. I still received the result I had aimed at.

Mima cringed, began to blush and immediately flew over to me, forgot entirely about the two idiots that had been buried underneath a huge faith pillar. Like a loyal puppy, she smiled at me in glee and followed as I began to leave again. I threw Shinki into the arms of her maid, Yumeko, which was already waiting next to the battlefield, then threw Letty at that lunar bunny who had come to pick up the casualties of the battle... It seems that I threw Letty a bit too hard, as she knocked Reisen over, but I regarded that with nothing more but a shrug.

"Let's go." I announced into Mima's general direction, and the evil spirit's smile increased. It was easy to figure out why... Only didn't she know yet that I was merely trying to get her away from that idiot Chôzen so he'd get his punishment.

But I am in a good mood... So maybe Mima and I can get a little affectionate and celebrate our victory after all...

* * *

_Chôzen's PoV_

"GAH!"

I sat up, coughed like mad. The hell?! I had nearly choked on my own saliva!

"Ah... Back among the living as well, I see?" asked a voice out of the darkness. I frowned as I saw how dark it was, and this frown increased when I saw that I was lying in the middle of the now reverted battlefield.

I rose my right hand, then lit the black bones up in an emerald flame. The battlefield, as well as the arena, was tinted in an eerie green light... A light that allowed me to see that the arena was empty. My mouth fell open as I saw that, and immediately looked up to the ceiling. The roof was still destroyed, allowing me to see the full moon far above me.

Just how many hours had I been out cold...?! And why had no one picked me up?!

"They left you here..." commented that voice, and I glanced over my shoulder. Kanako was lying there, sneering at me in an amused way, "I've been left here as well. I guess that's the punishment for getting in the way of the tournament."

"Punishment? In what way is this a puni... ARGH!" Pain shot through my body, the source of the pain my back.

"That is the punishment. Stone is really comfortable, isn't it? Does wonders to the back." snorted Kanako, sarcasm practically dripping from her voice.

"Shut the hell up... Urgh, this is killing me!" I hissed as I rolled my shoulders and stretched my back over and over again in hope that the pain would go away.

And it did, as two strong hands began to massage it. I cringed, then glanced over my shoulder in shock. Kanako was sitting behind me now, smiling and shaking her head.

"You'll have to do the same to me. It'll help, believe me. Suwako and I always massaged each other's back when it hurt after one of our battles." chuckled Kanako as she slowly moved her thumbs in circles over my ribcage. I let out a hiss, but couldn't help but notice that the pain was really slowly vanishing.

"Going soft on me, are ya? I told ya... Don't go soft on me." I sniggered, hissing whenever Kanako hit one of the spots that the pain was coming from.

"And I told you... Maybe I am going soft on you. But would that change anything? I still hate your guts." replied Kanako, obviously amused.

It fell silent after that. I didn't even hiss anymore when Kanako hit one of the right spots.

And then, after what felt like an eternity of comfortable silence, I began to chuckle softly. Kanako frowned at me like I had just gone insane, but then closed her eyes and huffed... Eventually, she chuckled as well. And as she did, we both broke into a fit of laughter. The barriers were finally broken and we just let out whatever we had held back. Whatever we had held back ever since our first departure was released, but also of the time when we had trained together under Suwako Moriya.

We threw our heads back and finally laughed together. And that was how strong our rivalry was. That was how our rivalry was supposed to be, and no other way. Strong in hate, and even stronger in solidarity. We had shown how much we hated each other in our fights, but had shown that we could work together to achieve even greater things than one of us could've done alone, like against Mima, when it had been Kanako's blessing that had helped me quite a lot.

Kanako stopped her massage and instead patted my shoulder. Seeing that as a sign that it was my turn, I rolled my neck, then turned around to face her. We shared a soft smile before she turned around and exposed her back to me. I immediately found the right spot, just beneath Kanako's sixth pair of ribs, and she let out a moan of relief.

"Don't go that soft on me!" I snorted, only to earn a slap onto my right knee from the goddess.

"Like I'd do that! Idiot!" laughed the goddess, but then leaned back into me.

"So you're a father now, hm? I saw your daughters earlier... You can be quite proud of yourself. Both got beauty and a character to match it. Even though the blonde seemed to be quite bold." sighed Kanako and gently shook her head, "Please stop that massage. Just hold me."

For some reason, I complied. I stopped massaging her back and instead allowed her to lean into me, even pulled her closer until she sat on my lap, with her back resting against my chest and her head leaned onto my right shoulder. We remained like that, and it didn't even feel uncomfortable... We just sat there, watching the nightly sky above us through the hole in the ceiling.

"Yeah... Yajû sure is a lot like her mother, Rumia. Quite bold and direct... And, for some reason, quite powerless. Yume is her counterpart. She's shy and avoids too much contact, but got Nanatsu's physical powers..." I whispered, enjoying the closeness to the goddess.

"Hikari is just like Suwako... I guess she's eventually going to be just like her. For now, she is way childish... But she is still a young god, after all. A girl born from a war." chuckled Kanako, tilting her head a little to nuzzle my neck. This action shocked me a little, but I still accepted it. In the end, this wasn't a step into the direction of a relationship. We had always shared this closeness, only in a different way. But did it matter if we shared it in a fight or outside of one?

"You're trying to tell me that she isn't as young as she looks like, right? She is quite young and acts young, has yet to grow up... But her age is that of multiple centuries, correct? You said she is a girl born from a war... The great Suwa war, the war you fought against Suwako." I murmured, and felt Kanako nod against my neck.

It became quiet again between us. Kanako eventually withdrew her head from my neck and just rested it on my shoulder again, looked up at the stars.

"Yukari is going to be pissed. Just think how many damages we caused... That corridor is in ruins, and the fact that we interrupted the battle isn't going to help her mood." giggled Kanako.

"That is true." I chuckled, "She's going to chase us to Makai and back."

"Wouldn't that give you an home advantage?" asked Kanako, gently averted her gaze from the stars and gazed at my face.

"I guess so... I am a child of Shinki now. She has accepted me as one of her own, has adopted me as her son... I should pay her a visit soon. I owe her." I sighed, remembering only too well how sudden my departure from Gensokyo had been those twenty years ago... I hadn't even really told anybody. Sly knew... Koishi knew... Yukari, Shikieiki and her Shinigami did... But aside that, nobody else. At least I couldn't remember. Twenty years can be a long time for the memories, even for that of a Youkai.

"You know... Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if you truly are just a mere Youkai. You do possess the powers of a god... Your powers are equal in strength to those of us gods. It is true that gods are just another subspecies of Youkai... But are you really just a mere Youkai? I cannot help but be confused by you. Even Suwako cannot grand me the answers I seek so desperately for. What are you?" whispered Kanako.

"I don't know, Kana... I don't know..."

"Kana...? Did you just call me by a nickname other than Orochi?" asked the goddess.

"What, you don't like it? I thought, since no one is around to see this moment of us going soft on one another..." I countered, but Kanako shook her head.

"It's fine... I guess. No other nickname would've been right now." giggled Kanako as our gazes met. And as they did, she slowly rose a hand and began to stroke my left cheek with it. And in return, I just pulled her closer.

I don't know if she felt the same urge, but for a moment, I wished for nothing but to lean closer and kiss her. But no matter if she did or not... I did lean forward, and gently kissed her forehead. And from then on, no word was spoken in between us.

There was just no need to.

It remained silent, even as we eventually rose after what felt like hours, and parted. We both had lives to go back to, and next time we'd meet, we'd be back to normal: Fighting each other, calling each other names, hating each other's guts with no place for romance. Cause, in the end, my relationship with Kanako was no different from that to Alice, only less dangerous... For whatever reason the Circle of Yama saw my relationship with Alice as dangerous, that was.

But both relationships were never allowed to go any further than they were.

And Shikieiki, who had watched this exchange in between me and Kanako in secret all along, would've agreed with me, before she vanished back into the darkness of a corridor to find the man she had really been looking for.

The dangerous man that she had been forced to let roam free again for the first time in almost twenty years.

The dangerous man that called himself Sly, the man that had watched all of this in secret as well, with the nastiest of all smirks upon his lips, before he too vanished into the darkness again...

Shikieiki and Sly... They were two opposing forces, both on one side of the law. In behind curtains, they fought a silent and hidden war. And, if I had known that it was there, I would've agreed that I was only too happy to be not pulled into it... It was their very personal war, and nothing I should interfere with.

* * *

The corridors lay in darkness, illuminated only by the flickering light of a torch every few ten meters. The corridor that lay on my way back to the living quarters was quite chilly... No wonder, part of it was missing after all. Kanako and I had done quite a lot of work here.

Yukari seemed to have woken up some time after Kanako and I had been squished by the faith pillar, as a wooden sign graced the wall of the corridor.

"If I get my hands on you, Yasaka and Gekido, death will be the most harmless thing falling upon you." could be read in large, bold letters of a red color. A small line was scribbled underneath it with black ink, something that caused me to snort in sheer amusement. Next time I'd see Kanako, I would have to tell her about that.

"Need donations for duct tape. We'll need lots of it for this corridor. -Yukari Yakumo."

Snickering about that in my mind, I made my way down the destroyed corridor to the living quarters, my intention that of finally getting a good rest. I'd need it, that for sure. Two fights against two of my greatest rivals in just a few hours... Yep, I sure missed Gensokyo!

But, lost in my thoughts as I was, I didn't notice the person hiding in the shadows behind the corner of the entrance to the medical wing... I didn't notice it until I actually passed it.

Suddenly, arms laid around my neck and pulled me into the shadows of the alcove that was the entrance to the medical wing. The arms around my neck were kind of skinny and fragile, thus made it easy for me to figure out that it was a girl that was holding me, even though I couldn't see her face, as my head was resting above her shoulder against her pale neck. But the scent that filled my nostrils made very clear just which girl was holding me... Even though I had only smelled this scent once, and only for a single night, I'd never ever mistake it.

Two slender legs wrapped around my waist, pulled me into her. This action alone was enough to tell me that this girl and I had a past together, a strong relationship that had sometimes been passionate and other times been full of hatred; but the moment that sweet lips laid upon mine and pulled me into a passionate kiss, one full of desire, yearning and longing, I could only mutter her name against these sweet lips.

"A-Alice...!" I breathed, pulling away from the kiss to gasp for air.

And indeed, the woman I was pushing against the wall, the woman that had laid her legs and arms around me, was none other that Alice Margatroid. She hadn't aged a single day since my departure. She hadn't lost any of her beauty. This was still my girl, still my Alice.

"Hey there, Gekido..." whispered the girl that I hated with all my heart, the girl that hated me just as much. She began to nuzzle my neck, sending thrills of excitement through me.

"You smell like Yasaka..." huffed Alice as she stopped and began to smirk at me.

"Guess so. What the hell were you thinking? Aren't you with Marisa anymore?" I whispered into the semi-darkness, only to earn a smirk and a shake of her head.

"Don't get your hopes too high. I'm married with Marisa." giggled Alice.

"And as you know, I am with Nanatsu and Rumia." I shot back, confused and yet excited. After all, this was Alice... Alice, the woman I had a wicked kind of love for... And who was, since Shinki adopted me, my 'sister'...

"Good. Then we both have someone to return to." laughed the puppeteer in a melodic way, "What? Can't I welcome you back in my own, special way?"

"Very funny..." I whispered, yet didn't pull away from her, "Why didn't you do so earlier?"

"Marisa and I were late... We missed the introduction and the first battle entirely, but made sure to arrive just in time to see the battle of our mothers. I didn't even know you were back in Gensokyo until I spotted Nanatsu... And when I heard some Tengu exchange about how Yukari's team and you ended up in the medical wing, I went there as fast as I could... Guess I was a little too late." replied the puppeteer.

"I see... You arrived here just in time to see my fight with Kanako, right? So it was you... You pulled on Kanako's leg! I was wondering why she suddenly lost her balance and almost fell over when she was just about to slam her foot down on me." I muttered.

In reply, Alice's smirk increased and she gently showed me her left hand, revealing the magical strings that she always used to control her dolls.

"It was easy... I had to reconnect my strings to dolls so often in my earliest days that it wasn't that much of a problem for me to attach them to her leg from afar. And then, I just had to pull... Pretty useful, isn't it? The strings are nearly invisible for the naked eye." whispered Alice, then laid her arm around my neck once more and pulled me close again.

"I missed you, Chôzen..." breathed the puppeteer into my ear, and I couldn't help but smirk in self-satisfaction.

"I missed you too, Alice... Even though I shouldn't miss you this much." I replied.

It was that moment that the door to my left opened. I almost gasped, feared that someone would discover me and Alice in this compromising position. I glared into the direction of the door... And my gaze met that of Eirin.

"Ah, Gekido." snorted the lunar pharmacist, "I knew I sensed an exploded spleen nearby."

"Very funny, Eirin..." I growled in return, trying my best not to lose it now after being discovered in such a position with Alice... Both of us were married, after all!

"I think so, too. But jokes aside, I was just about to see how you were doing... I've been told you and Yasaka knocked yourselves out during a 'small' fight in between you two... I don't need to be a doctor to tell you that it was reckless of you to fight again after just being released from the medical wing. But it seems that you are in a perfect condition, despite being knocked out two times today... After all, you and Rumia are going at it again, right here in front of the medical wing." mused Eirin, a mischievous smirk on her lips.

_"Rumia?!"_ I thought, frowning. My Flame-Soul appeared behind Eirin and hovered there, right above her shoulder.

_**"Holy...! She's right, from this angle, you only see blonde hair! Of course she's mistaking Alice for Rumia!"**_

"Just don't get too loud. Letty Whiterock needs some rest." snickered Eirin, waved it off, and then turned around to vanish behind the door of the medical wing again.

Alice and I were alone again.

After what felt like a silent eternity, Alice eventually let go of me and I gently put her down onto the ground. It remained silent in between us, we just continued to stare into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity...

And then, Alice let out an amused huff and averted her gaze. Imagine my shock, and my blush, when Alice slipped one hand into the collar of her dress and began to pull it down, exposing her right shoulder to me... And a dark green stripe that had burned into her right arm, just below her shoulder...

"Look at this... It is still there. This is the bond in between us, a creation of pain that we shared." whispered Alice, one finger gently tracing the green stripe. I remembered only too well how it was created... It had been an emergency meeting because of Mima in the Unfocused World, in which I had let my temper get the better of me. Rage had filled me, I had unleashed my powers... And it had been Alice who hugged me from behind, calming me down, even though it meant that she'd get hurt in the process.

Negative energy in shape of green flames had marred her skin, had created this green stripe. And because of the aspects that negative energy had, negating even rules that could not be changed, this scar had carried over into the real world... This was the result.

This was indeed a sign of the pain that Alice and I had shared that day.

"Why are you showing me this?" I asked softly.

"To assure you that, even though we both do have Shinki as our mother now and thus could be called 'siblings'..." began Alice, then trailed off to avert her gaze and blush, "Just promise me that our relationship will not change because of that... Promise me that we hate each other just as much as we always did. I am still Alice, and you are still Chôzen... We still hate each other."

At this, I couldn't help but smile. So Alice saw this the same way as I did... We would just ignore the fact that Shinki had adopted me. We would just carry on like always.

"I promise... Murdertroid."

"Thank you... Gekilldo."

And with that, Alice ran her finger down my chest, leaned closer and caught my lips again for a last, fleeting kiss... And then, gently running a finger down my right arm until she reached the bony hand, vanished backwards into the darkness of the corridor again.

This encounter, way too brief like a fleeting touch, sent me into some kind of trance. And as Alice slipped away, so did I. I don't even remember how I entered the living quarters... I just remembered how I found my daughters, my lovely daughters Yajû and Yume, each lying on one of the three futons. And as I saw them, I couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if I had given into my wicked desire for Alice back then... Would we be parents as well? Would she have ever left me for Marisa?

Back then, when the two of us had just comforted each other for the love we couldn't get, everything had seemed to easy...

I didn't think about anything as I slipped into the third futon, right in between Nanatsu and Rumia. What a good thing that this was the largest of the three futons... Yukari must have expected something like this.

As soon as I lay there in between them, the two women cuddled up to me and let out content sighs.

I let out a sigh as well... But it wasn't content at all.

First Yukari, then Kanako and finally Alice... This day had really been something else. I wasn't even sure what to feel now... Three rivals, each with a different emotion applied to it...

I'd need some time to process this all.

Hopefully, tonight, or rather the rest of the night that I had, would be enough... Tomorrow, another set of old relationships would return.

Tomorrow, my dear sisters, Remilia and Flandre, would fight their respective battles...

And, like the big brother I am supposed to be, I'll cheer for them.

My 'family ties' into that direction may have been put on ice for the last twenty years... But they hadn't stopped. It was time to revive them.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow...

* * *

(1) Sanae had a certain misunderstanding in I-NB with the command "duck", mistaking it for the animal "duck"...

(2) You should know Agatha Christie's "And then there were none"... I referenced it before, and ZUN made it obvious that Flandre herself and her theme song are both based on/inspired by it.

(3) "Vipera in verpecula est" is Latin, and it's Idiomatic translation would be: "Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do creep." It's a quote from Emanuel Strauss (1994).

* * *

_And so ends the second fight of the tournament. And Chôzen's second fight as well, even though it wasn't the same. Kanako was out for revenge, and got much more in return._

_But that is not something I'm going to continue rant about now._

_Rather than that, I'd like to note a few things here._

_First is the thing you were probably frowning at... The whole thing about Daiyousei. Let me explain, please. I cannot help but see a very cheery being in Daiyousei... One with a hidden gloom to it, a hidden despair and sadness. Possibly because of a doujin I once read, which touched upon Daiyousei and her view on things. I can't remember the name of that doujin, so if anyone read it as well and knows it's name, please PM me._

_Then there is Kanako and Chôzen... I thought it was time to show the real extent of their relationship and make clear once and for all just how they are towards each other once and for all._

_Then, there is Marisa... She couldn't be missing in this chapter, of course! She is Mima's disciple, after all! And since she was human when Chôzen left, she aged a bit as well, even though she is a Youkai now. _

_And with Marisa, Alice made a return as well... They came to cheer for their mothers, but Alice left to find Chôzen... Their love-hate relationship continues, but it will be different... Will it?_

_And then, there is the thing with Sly and Shikieiki... Wonder if anyone will figure that out? Let's just say that, just like last time, I'll start a lot of questions now... Questions, that will be answered before the book comes to an end. Most of them... A few will continue into the third installment, which I have already planned. The thing with Shikieiki and Sly will not be one of them, though._

_A little soon to talk about a third installment, you may think now... I don't think so. I think it is necessary to think such things through... Just imagine if I would end this book in a way that would not allow me a continuation if I ever felt like it. So, to keep this short, I did plan a third installment. That's all I'm going to say until this book ends. _

_And with that, I'll say my goodbye here._

_This has been another chapter of "Negative Bullet Project II-Negative Mind", please review if you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter!_

_On a side-note, I think it is time to concentrate on the two chapters of HoH that I promised. One will be up next weekend as far as I can see, the other one will follow then. I'll keep writing on the next chapter for this as well, but will spend more time on HoH, as I already missed last month's update._

_This is SorrowfulReincarnation, signing off for a good night's rest!_

_Until the next chapter!_


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